Victoria’s Labor government faces a new High Court battle after being accused of “rigging” the electoral system with proposed political donation laws. The Allan government introduced legislation on Wednesday, promising to cap donations, ban foreign injections, and require full transparency for election funding.
The proposed laws come less than two months after the High Court struck down the state’s previous donation reforms for violating the Constitution’s implied right to freedom of political communication. Independent candidates Paul Hopper and Melissa Lowe had successfully challenged the earlier laws, which allowed Labor, the Liberals, and the Nationals to each have a “nominated entity” exempt from donation caps.
The new legislation eliminates the exemption, imposing a hard cap of $7,500 per election cycle for donations to existing parties and candidates. New entrants will have a cap of $15,000, and all donations of $1,250 or more must be disclosed in real time. The bill also requires parties to repay any funds above $5,030 received from a nominated entity between July 1, 2023, and April 14, 2026.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the laws would “restore integrity” to elections. “Victorians should be the ones who decide the outcome of elections, not big money, not billionaires, whether they’re Australian or foreign,” she said. However, the Premier did not mention a major increase in “administrative funding” for political parties. Previously, parties received $248,460 for their first MP, $86,950 for the second, and $43,490 for the third to 45th MPs. The new legislation increases these amounts to $300,000, $100,000, and $55,000 respectively, providing an extra $559,520 in public money for Labor based on its current number of MPs. This funding cannot be used for election campaigns.
Shadow Attorney General James Newbury accused Labor of “seeking to rig the system” and claimed the laws are unconstitutional. “The Coalition will not support it,” he said. Newbury criticized the increase in public funding during a cost-of-living crisis and flagged a potential legal challenge, noting that the requirement for back payments from mid-2023 was arbitrary. “If the High Court has said that back payment is required, it would be required from when the laws came into effect. It wouldn’t be mid-2023 as some random number,” he said. Labor argued the date was chosen because it marked the start of the first full financial year after the 2022 state election.
Newbury also warned that a low donation cap combined with increased public funding posed a constitutional risk. Premier Allan dismissed his comments, saying the government had received legal advice and that Newbury “cannot be taken seriously.” Independent candidate Paul Hopper, running for the West Party, agreed with the Opposition, stating the new laws are “still rigged” and predicting another High Court challenge. He pointed out that union affiliation fees are exempt from the laws, giving Labor an unfair advantage. “That’s a clear case of the deepest pockets influencing elections, which Labor is pretending to be against,” he said. Union fees cannot be used for political campaigns.
