What's Happening in other Countries?

The table below reveals just how far Australia is being left behind in the international movement to curtail the influence of big interest money on our governments. The table compares our Australian political donations system with Canada, a nation with a similar political system, culture and population size as Australia. Canada has implemented strong and effective restrictions on money politics, compared to Australia's no limits 'free for all'.

	CANADA	AUSTRALIA
Maximum amount for individual donation?	$5000	No maximum amount. A 'free for all'.
Maximum amount for corporate or trade-union donation?	$1000	No maximum amount. A 'free for all'.
Minimum amount that must be disclosed?	$200 for parties and candidates (and third parties that spend over $500) must disclose identity of all contributions over $200 from a single source.	Donors can contribute up to $1,500 before any declaration is made.
Expenditure limits?	Pre-selection: 20% of election expenses in that district during the last general election. Candidates: sliding scale. $41,450 for 25,000 electors + $0.52 per additional elector. Parties: $0.70 per elector in constituencies contested. Third parties: $150,000 including no more than $3,000 in a particular constituency race.	No maximum amount. A 'free for all'.
Foreign donations?	No foreign donations	Foreign donations allowed, no limits to amounts donated. A 'free for all'.

Apologists for the status-quo in Australia often argue that reforming our electoral laws is "just too hard" or that "it can't be done". There is no substance to this argument. As evident below, there are many countries that have implemented the very reforms that are desperately needed to be considered for Australia.

40 countries, including Canada, USA, UK, Iceland, Ireland, France, Canada, Poland, Japan, Israel, Brazil, Argentina and others, have banned foreign donations.
30 countries, including Canada, Belgium, France, Ireland, Spain, Israel, Japan and others, have laws specifying a maximum amount that a single donor can contribute.
22 countries, including France, Israel, Hungary, Poland, Portugal Argentina, Brazil and others, have various types of bans on corporate donations to political parties.
27 countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina have bans on donations from government contractors.
9 countries, including Portugal, Mexico, Bulgaria, Brazil and others, have imposed a maximum amount that a party can raise overall.
17 countries, including France, Portugal, Poland, Israel, Brazil, Argentina and others, have a ban on trade unions donations to political parties.
27 countries, including Canada, UK, Spain, New Zealand, Poland , Portugal, Belgium and others, have imposed a ceiling on overall party election expenditure.

Source: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Funding of Political parties and Election Campaigns Handbook. 2003