Legislation banning substantial Commonwealth contractors from making political donations is being proposed, with the intention to enhance transparency in Australian federal elections. Kate Chaney, Member for Curtin, will present the “Restoring Trust Bill” that additionally seeks to mandate federal ministers to disclose their official diaries. This initiative strives to mitigate financial sway and ensure equitable competition among federal election contenders. The Greens have put forth a comparable proposal, disqualifying firms that donated politically in the past year from obtaining government contracts. The Centre for Public Integrity, Australia’s premier anti-corruption think tank, highlighted that Labor and the Coalition jointly accepted nearly $4.3 million from leading consultancy firms, including KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, and EY. Concurrently, the value of Commonwealth procurements from these companies surged over 400%. Many of the suggested modifications draw from an electoral matters committee’s recommendations, which seeks increased transparency in political contributions and addresses the corruptible influence of significant finances.
This is a summary of “Teal independent Kate Chaney to introduce bill to ban big Commonwealth contractors from making political donations” published in ABC on July 25, 2023, written by Daryna Zadvirna. Read it in full here.