Bill
Electoral Legislation Amendment (Annual Disclosure Equality) Bill 2021
passed, as at 2021-12-13. Special Minister of State portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Special Minister of State
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2021-11-25
- second reading — 2021-11-25
- second reading — 2021-12-01
- second reading — 2021-12-01
- committee — 2021-12-01
- third reading — 2021-12-01
- introduced — 2021-12-02
- second reading — 2021-12-02
- second reading — 2021-12-02
- second reading — 2021-12-02
- committee — 2021-12-02
- third reading — 2021-12-02
- passed — 2021-12-02
- royal assent — 2021-12-13
Divisions
- The majority voted in favour of *disagreeing* with [amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debates/?id=2021-12-01.22.1) introduced by Indi MP [Helen Haines](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/indi/helen_haines) (Independent), which means they failed. The amendment concerned receipt of donations and the disclosure of receipt of donations. ### What does the bill do? According to the [bill homepage](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6818), the bill was introduced to: * *extend the application of the foreign donations framework to current sitting members of the House of Representatives and Senators;* * *require members of the House of Representatives and Senators who receive gifts for the purpose of incurring electoral expenditure or creating or communicating electoral matter to lodge an annual return with the Australian Electoral Commission; and* * *extend the period for which a person is taken to be a candidate by an additional six months for the purpose of the disclosure period for candidate and Senate group returns and for restrictions on receiving foreign donations.* — 2021-12-01, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 56, noes 5
- The majority voted in favour of *disagreeing* with [amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2021-12-01.24.1) introduced by Indi MP [Helen Haines](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/indi/helen_haines) (Independent), which means they failed. The amendment concerned local expenses. ### What does the bill do? According to the [bill homepage](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6818), the bill was introduced to: * *extend the application of the foreign donations framework to current sitting members of the House of Representatives and Senators;* * *require members of the House of Representatives and Senators who receive gifts for the purpose of incurring electoral expenditure or creating or communicating electoral matter to lodge an annual return with the Australian Electoral Commission; and* * *extend the period for which a person is taken to be a candidate by an additional six months for the purpose of the disclosure period for candidate and Senate group returns and for restrictions on receiving foreign donations.* — 2021-12-01, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 55, noes 6
- Electoral Legislation Amendment (Annual Disclosure Equality) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Lower disclosure threshold to $1K — 2021-12-02, Senate: negative, ayes 9, noes 24
- The majority voted against [amendments](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr6818_amend_50f9068a-4bff-4487-90ee-43fd337456e6%22;rec=0) introduced by South Australian Senator [Rex Patrick](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/sa/rex_patrick) (Independent) and Tasmanian Senator [Jacqui Lambie](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/tasmania/jacqui_lambie) (Jacqui Lambie Network), which means they failed. Senator Patrick [explained that](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2021-12-02.120.1): > *the amendments before the chamber are to have disclosure around when people pay above a reasonable price for having a meal with a politician, be they a prime minister, a minister or an influential shadow minister. I have no issue with people going to dinner with parliamentarians. They shouldn't have to pay to do so. I think it's reasonable to recover the fee that is involved in serving a meal, but once the cost of the event gets above 15 per cent above the cost of the meal there needs to be some disclosure so that we don't have people dishing out large amounts of money just to be in the presence of someone. I think that's very wrong and un-Australian.* ### What does this bill do? According to the [bill homepage](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r6818), the bill was introduced in order to: * *extend the application of the foreign donations framework to current sitting members of the House of Representatives and Senators;* * *require members of the House of Representatives and Senators who receive gifts for the purpose of incurring electoral expenditure or creating or communicating electoral matter to lodge an annual return with the Australian Electoral Commission; and* * *extend the period for which a person is taken to be a candidate by an additional six months for the purpose of the disclosure — 2021-12-02, Senate: negative, ayes 8, noes 22
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2021-11-25.
This bill would apply the same donation rules to all federal politicians, whether they are currently in office or running for election.
Sitting parliamentarians would have to report gifts they receive directly for federal election purposes each year to the Australian Electoral Commission.
The period during which someone is treated as a candidate for disclosure and foreign donation rules would be lengthened by six months.
- Extends the foreign donations ban to cover the entire term of a sitting member, not just after they announce a re-election bid.
- Requires parliamentarians who receive gifts directly for federal election purposes to lodge an annual return with the AEC.
- Increases the candidate disclosure period by six months for returns and foreign donation restrictions.
Sitting members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and candidates for federal election.
Sources
em
billhome
frl act