Crowdfunded political campaigns should not be subject to donation caps in order to level the playing field and stop the “financial gerrymandering” of elections, a major teal independent backer has urged.
Appearing before a parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 federal election, Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court criticised political donation reforms that he said entrenched the status of major parties.
Under the reforms, which passed in 2025, donations are capped at $50,000 per donor to a party branch or candidate.
However, major parties are able to access $450,000 because parties are able to access $50,000 donations from the eight state and territory branches and the federal division.
Mr Holmes a Court said this put independent campaigns at a significant disadvantage compared with the major parties.
“This new financial gerrymander may throw a much-needed lifeline to the duopoly, but it’s bad news for our cherished democracy,” he told the inquiry on Friday.
“This is not reform. It is the preservation of incumbency, pulling up the drawbridge so that the political class can continue to underwhelm voters.”
The Climate 200 founder said the donation laws should not go into effect until a looming High Court challenge was resolved.
The laws include an $800,000 spending cap per electorate, but registered political parties are able to access a $90 million war chest for general advertising.
“If parties can spend up to $3 million a seat, then independents should be able to spend $3 million a seat, and right now you’re able to do that, whereas an independent is only allowed to spend $800,000,” Mr Holmes a Court said.
Caps should be removed for campaigns not involving major parties, he said.
“We’re not opposed to caps,” Mr Holmes a Court said.
“One of the things we’ve asked for is that crowdfunding campaigns that aggregate small donations shouldn’t themselves be subject to the caps.
“If the money has come in a controlled manner, then the organisation that aggregates those should be able to allocate them around the country, just as other political actors can.”
The latest political donation disclosure figures from the Australian Electoral Commission said Climate 200 spent $5 million during the 2024/25 financial year.
Labor national secretary Paul Erickson also gave evidence at the inquiry, saying the donation laws had been able to level the playing field.
Mr Erickson, who helped mastermind Labor’s 2025 campaign that won the party 94 seats in the lower house, said the reforms helped reduce the influence of larger donors.
“One of the most attractive aspects of the new funding and disclosure regime … is that it takes off the table the arms race dynamic in those local contests,” he said.
“The system was beginning to advantage high net-wealth individuals, networks and organisations, and in some cases, was creating environments where one or two actors were crowding out every other voice in the campaign.”
Mr Erickson said the reforms would limit forces in election campaigns such as those by mining magnate Clive Palmer.
Mr Palmer was the single largest donor in the past election campaign, spending $53 million and pumping in more money than the Labor and Liberal parties combined.
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