Did the major parties just kill the Independent movement?

Local independent candidates have hit out at a backroom deal between Labor and the Coalition to pass electoral reforms which would increase the hold the major parties have and cut the funding available to new independents.

Passed on Thursday morning, the reforms included:

• Lowering the disclosure threshold to $5000 from $16,000;

• Introducing a $50,000 cap on political donations from each donor per year

• Keeping “nominated entities” and unions exempt from donation caps.

Essentially, while this would increase the amount of transparency around smaller donations, it would allow for the major parties to hoard money over several years and accept funds with no limits from its nominated entity and other unions.

In addition, as major parties often have several branches all over the country, the amount of money they can accept from a given donor nine different times for Labor and 13 different times for the Coalition.

However, an Independent who only decided to run in the year prior to an election could only accept one donation of $50,000 from a given organisation.

Independent candidate for Casey Claire Ferres Miles said she dissented with the reforms, describing it as a “dark day for Australia’s democracy”.

“The major parties just gave themselves a $140 million payday at the 2028 election - public money direct into their coffers (up from $57 million in 2022),” she told the Eastern Melburnian.

“The new rules do not level the playing field, it tips the scale further in favour of the major parties.

“They could have won back voters with good policy decisions but no, they have decided to rig the system.”

A Federal Government spokesperson said the reforms would allow for greater integrity.

“The proposed reforms create a fairer electoral system for all Australians, including through more donation transparency, caps on spending and caps on donations,” the spokesperson said.

Independent candidate for Deakin Jess Ness said while the move was “outrageous” and “disappointing”, it was not surprising.

“If you can’t beat them in a fair fight, change the rules in last minute backroom deals — that’s how the Liberal and Labor parties act when people are given a choice,” she told the Eastern Melburnian.

“This is a 400-odd page document that says one thing, the two major parties are out of touch with the people.

“The major parties are taking away people's choice, and it’s not genuinely ensuring integrity in politics.”

The University of Sydney Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Anne Twomey said the legislation would unfairly punish new independent candidates.

“You’ve got a problem here where the rules are very deliberately unbalanced in favour of major political parties,” she told ABC Radio National.

“So the major political parties, for example, can get advance funding from that public funding, whereas if you’re a new entry into the system, you get zero in advance.

“They get huge amounts of money flowing into their campaign accounts from their nominated entities, which are their funding vehicles that the major parties already have.”

Twomey said there was a “reasonable argument” to be made that some of the provisions were invalid because it created an uneven playing field.

“It’s really aimed at taking a stick to minor parties and independents, and is not for the purpose of trying to take money out of politics and get rid of undue influence,” she said.

Image Credit: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas