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Queensland laws to silence charities and advocacy groups
Charities and community groups may be silenced and prevented from collecting critical donations under new laws to limit political donations and election spending.
Naomi Neilson
The Palaszczuk government’s bill will have “unintended consequences” unless it goes through more amendments, legal experts have told a parliamentary committee. These changes will ensure vital charities are not adversely affected by federal laws.
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Senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) Alice Drury said the bill needs amendments if it wants to achieve creating a level playing field between locals and big corporations in Queensland. The changes will limit worsening political inequality.
“Limits on political donations and election spending are vital to ensure that politicians are responding to those with the best ideas, not those with the biggest bank balance,” Ms Drury said. “However, changes are needed to ensure advocacy by charities and small grassroots groups is not stifled.”
Ms Drury said that despite the proposed laws going a long way in restoring democracy and achieving greater political equality, “the laws can have unintended consequences for people who are actively engaged in the issues they care about”.
“It’s critical that the laws do not effectively prevent small charities and local community groups from speaking on important issues in an election year.”
The proposal will limit third parties from receiving $4,000 per term in donations, or less than $20 per week, for election-related advocacy. As a result, charities and community groups will struggle to raise funds to speak out on election issues they work on.
In contrast, corporations will not face any restrictions on the income they can use and will be able to spend up to $1 million each on election advertising.
“If the Queensland government wants to avoid worsening the political inequality which exists between the gambling industry, mining companies, big banks and the ordinary Queenslander, the proposed laws should be amended so that they do not capture the small community advocacy and exempt charities from donation limits,” Ms Drury said.
Ms Drury added the exemption for charities is particularly important, given the charities are already prevented from promoting or opposing political parties by federal law.
She said it is critical the laws do not further silence the voices of charities, while major corporations continue to run large-scale election campaigns.
“If reforms aren’t made to this bill, the government could inadvertently worsen political inequality in Queensland. However, if these amendments are made, those laws would be an enormous win for Queensland democracy,” Ms Drury said.
“It is vital that the Palaszczuk government sit down with civil society before it becomes law to work through the unintended consequences for advocacy.”
