Email Prime Minister Albanese aBOUT ELECTORAL REFORM
The Prime Minister faces his next big test on integrity.
Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party must urgently pass reforms to:
- Close transparency loopholes by exposing cash-for-access payments. Currently, secret donations can flow to politicians via exclusive dinner parties and events.
- Limit dangerous misinformation with strong truth in political advertising laws. Currently, there are no laws that say politicians need to be honest in their advertising.
Additionally, if new laws to cap spending and donations are proposed, they must not enable political parties to rig the system in their favour.
This government was elected promising a new kind of politics. But in the last federal election, 40% of donations to the major parties were hidden as dark money. And during the referendum campaign, we saw mistruths about the purpose and scope of the Voice proliferated by politicians with little accountability or recourse.
It’s time to expose hidden money in our political system and tackle dangerous misinformation once and for all.
Email the Prime Minister now to demonstrate that the community agrees it’s urgent that we fix these laws before the next federal election.
Email tips
- Make it personal – to avoid being caught in the spam filter, make your email unique.
- Add a little introduction at the beginning of the email, sharing who you are (eg the area you live in, your connection to the local community etc).
- Explain why this issue is important to you – why were you moved to write an email?
- You may also like to add some more information about the problem of money in politics and the proposed solutions. Find more detail on the policy below.
More information about loopholes and cash-for-access
In the Electoral Act, the current lax definition of a “gift” means that exclusive fundraising dinners, where the who’s who of corporate Australia can pay tens of thousands of dollars for a literal seat at the table with decision-makers, are not declarable donations. The definition of ‘gift’ should be broadened to expose the secret slush funds from big corporations, fundraising dinners and political front groups. This improved transparency would allow proper scrutiny of corporate donations.
More information about truth in political advertising
In Australia, no laws are in place to stop MPs and candidates from lying in their election campaigns. This has contributed to a decline in trust in our politicians and democracy more broadly. The ads released in the lead-up to elections can play a massive part in influencing the result. To foster a fair and robust democracy, we must limit dangerous misinformation with strong truth in political advertising laws.
More information about approaches to capping political
spending + donations
It’s undeniable that we need to stem the unlimited amounts of industry money that currently flows into our political system. However, any limits placed on political donations and election campaign spending need to be designed in a way that accounts for the advantages that major parties have over independents and new candidates. Caps on donations and spending mustn’t inadvertently rig the system in favour of the major parties by entrenching incumbency and locking out the ability of new candidates to get their name out there.
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