Investigation into political donations facilitated by Chinese Friends of Labor in 2015

Summary

Findings 1

Allegations are not findings. A commission's finding or opinion of corrupt conduct or misconduct is not a finding that a person is guilty of a criminal offence, and the commissions say so in their reports.

1. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   The Commission found that Mr Wong engaged in serious corrupt conduct by using the privileges to which he was entitled as a member of the Legislative Council: • between about February 2015 and at least September 2018, in the course of carrying out a scheme for the purpose of circumventing the requirement of the EFED Act to the effect that the true source of a “reportable political donation” received or made must be disclosed to the NSWEC • on 17 September 2018, at a meeting with Mr Tong in Mr Wong’s Parliament House office, during the course of which Mr Wong attempted to procure Mr Tong to give false testimony to such investigative authorities as may make enquiries of him in relation to the question of whether he had made a donation in connection with the CFOL dinner held on 12 March 2015 (chapter 22).

   Report, page 13, Summary of investigation and outcomes

Recommendations 7

1. Recommendation 1

   That the NSW Government amends the Electoral Funding Regulation 2018 to provide for the NSWEC to issue penalty notices for less severe breaches of the prohibition on cash donations under s 50A of the Electoral Funding Act 2018 .

   Political donations – allegations concerning ALP NSW branch officials, Chinese Friends of Labor and others (Operation Aero), Recommendations for corruption prevention

2. Recommendation 2

   That the NSW Government, in consultation with affected parties, initiates an amendment to the Electoral Funding Act 2018 so that payments from the Administration Fund are contingent on the achievement of acceptable standards of party governance and internal control. A working group should be established to determine the relevant governance and control standards, which could relate to: accounting for, receipting and banking donations the organisation of fundraising events identifying prohibited donors and donations that exceed statutory caps the roles and responsibilities of staff, including volunteers risk management and internal audit whistleblowing and complaint-handling management of gifts and conflicts of interest compliance and ethical obligations of senior party officials.

   Political donations – allegations concerning ALP NSW branch officials, Chinese Friends of Labor and others (Operation Aero), Recommendations for corruption prevention

3. Recommendation 3

   That the newly established working group should seek input from the NSWEC to ensure the efficient administration and implementation of standards. That is, consideration should be given to: applicable minimum standards whether the standards should take the form of model rules, which an individual party would be free to modify only if the NSWEC agreed that the modified rule did not adversely affect the party’s governance. This would prevent small, or new, parties from incurring the expense of drafting rules from scratch the limits on the type of standards that could be required. That is, in order to avoid topics and areas that the state has no legitimate interest in regulating (for example, the way a political party formulates its policies) the desirability, or extent to which, the standards take the form of specific rules, so as to meet the reasonable satisfaction of the NSWEC the need for a proportionate approach that does not unreasonably penalise small, new political parties or independents providing political parties with reasonable opportunities to address shortcomings in their governance and internal control frameworks before administration funding is withheld.

   Political donations – allegations concerning ALP NSW branch officials, Chinese Friends of Labor and others (Operation Aero), Recommendations for corruption prevention

4. Recommendation 4

   That the NSW Government amends the Electoral Funding Act 2018 to provide the NSWEC with the necessary powers to assess, audit and enforce non-compliance with standards of party governance and internal control.

   Report, page 18

5. Recommendation 5

   That the NSW Government amends the Electoral Funding Act 2018 to require the NSWEC to publish findings regarding political parties’ adherence to established governance and controls standards.

   Report, page 18

6. Recommendation 6

   That the NSW Government, in consultation with the NSWEC, gives consideration to: a) amending section 100(1) of the Electoral Funding Act 2018 to require senior office holders of political parties to report reasonably suspected contraventions of the Act b) increasing penalties associated with the offence under section 100(1) of the Electoral Funding Act 2018 to bring it into line with the penalties set out in sections 141 to 146 of the Act.

   Political donations – allegations concerning ALP NSW branch officials, Chinese Friends of Labor and others (Operation Aero), Recommendations for corruption prevention

7. Recommendation 7

   That the NSW Government amends the Electoral Funding Act 2018 to give the NSWEC power to publish the results of its compliance audits, investigations and regulatory actions.

   Report, page 18

Published responses 1

• Action plan – update – NSW Government (pdf)

  Progress report

Official documents 2

• Investigation into political donations facilitated by Chinese Friends of Labor in 2015

  Report · 288 pages

  Document details

  Role

  Report

• Operation Aero recommendations for prosecutions (pdf)

  Recommendations

  Document details

  Role

  Recommendations

Coverage

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