Minor parties to be deregistered

November 17, 1993
Issue 

Lisa Macdonald

The Howard government's wide-ranging assault on democratic rights was last month extended into the electoral arena. On June 22, federal parliament passed amendments to the electoral laws that make it even more difficult to challenge the major-party duopoly in Canberra.

With the passage of the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006, the electoral roll will now close at 8pm on the day a federal election is called. Previously, voters had around a week after the announcement of an election to enrol or correct outdated enrolment details. This change will particularly affect young people (those who have turned 18 since the last election), thereby disenfranchising many in a demographic group that has generally been less likely to vote for establishment parties.

Further, the new laws require that all political parties that do not currently have a member in federal parliament be automatically deregistered on December 27. Without registration, a party's name does not appear on ballot papers, it is ineligible for electoral funding and donations made to it cannot be claimed as a tax deductions.

The parties that are deregistered in December can apply for re-registration, but this will involve jumping bureaucratic hurdles designed to make it as difficult as possible for minor parties to succeed. Under current rules, the party must provide the Australian Electoral Commission with an original, signed form from at least 500 financial members. The AEC then sends a letter to an undisclosed list of these members, who must sign and mail it back to the AEC by a particular date. If a certain (undisclosed) proportion fail to return the AEC letter by then (because they are away on holidays at the time, or have moved residence in the meantime, etc) the party's application is rejected.

The undemocratic nature of these onerous requirements is evident in the Australian Democrats' loss of party registration in Tasmania, and their possible inability to meet the re-registration requirements in NSW, or federally, if they lose their remaining MPs. Some ALP members have even admitted that they would be struggling to succeed if the major parties were subject to the same hurdles.

The June 22 amendments also increase the amount of donations to political parties that can be claimed as a tax deduction from $100 to $1500 per year, and increase the threshold at which donations to political parties must be declared from $1500 to $10,000. According to Stephen Mayne on crikey.com, this makes Australia's political donations disclosure rules among the weakest in the developed world.

[Lisa Macdonald is the national coordinator of the Socialist Alliance.]

From Green Left Weekly, July 19, 2006.
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