Political donations of up to $13,800 in Australia can remain a secret, but crossbenchers in Parliament are pushing for that to change.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Indi MP Helen Haines supported a motion from Rebekha Sharkie this week, which would lower the disclosure threshold to $1000, because she said it would improve transparency.
"Capping donations at a modest limit is a powerful way of ensuring integrity," she said.
"Voters deserve to know how candidates are funded and who funds them, but the law demands different levels of campaign funding transparency from the members for Clark, Indi and Warringah compared with that of the party candidates."
People can donate money or their time to specific branches or candidates of major political parties, but these amounts are not revealed at the same time as donations to independents like Dr Haines - they are reported more generally by the parties.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"This means political parties contesting elections are not obliged to show how much money was given, raised or spent in each electorate," she said.
"These gifts and spending, instead, go into the party's divisional stew and the only ingredients you can identify - when it's served many months later, cold and unappealing, as the parties probably want it to be - are donations of more than $13,800.
"Voters should not be blinded by the law to what candidates raise and what they spend. We need comprehensive, robust reform of the system of federal political donations and disclosure."
The Australian Electoral Commission revealed last month that donors gave $421,011 to support Dr Haines' campaign, which she said included $284,891 in cash from 997 supporters.