The Australian Greens (AG), as a Party committed to enhancing Australia’s democratic process, will pursue the model of publicly funded elections at all levels of government. Publicly funded elections would promote more equitable access and reduce the risk of corruption through donations.
In the current situation where donations, including gifts-in-kind as defined by the Australian Electoral Commission, are used by parties throughout the political cycle, AG and its Member Bodies, using transparent practices, will accept donations from individuals and legal entities other than public for-profit corporations, subject to ethical review, noting that The Greens NSW and Queensland Greens do not accept donations from any type of company.
In accordance with the above AG and its Member Bodies will –
- Ensure that where any individual’s cumulative donations to AG or its Member Bodies total $1,000 or more within a twelve month period their donations, and any donation from another legal entity, are reviewed by the AG Donations Reference Group (AG-DRG).
- Seek to ensure that the values and aspirations of all donors subject to review are not inconsistent with those encapsulated in the policies and the Charter of the Australian Greens.
- Accept donations only for supporting the aims of the Party.
- Seek to ensure that no donation be accepted or retained if it gives rise to or is likely to give rise to a conflict of interest as defined below.
- Consider agreements with donors about expenditure of their donations subject to negotiations with relevant campaign committees or other bodies on campaign or party priorities.
- Ensure that elected Greens representatives, preselection candidates, endorsed candidates for any election and members of the Greens do not solicit or accept personally any donation to be used for activities on behalf of the Party or to advance the member's standing within the Party including campaigning or fundraising, unless granted an exemption by the AG-DRG. Donations instead will be directed to AG, a Member Body or a local group. Donations under this clause received by elected representatives only include gifts received explicitly for campaigning or operational purposes of the Party.
- Maintain transparency in donor identity by making public at the end of each three month period all donors and the cumulative total of their donations to AG and its Member Bodies** over the previous twelve month period where those cumulative totals amount to $1,000 or more.
- Ensure that donations rejected as a result of this bylaw will be returned to the donor at the earliest opportunity.
The acceptance of any donation by AG or its Member Bodies does not imply endorsement of the activities, undertakings or processes of the donor.
Implementation of this donations bylaw will be overseen by the AG-DRG.
It is the responsibility of the AG-DRG to ensure systems are in place which can effectively monitor all donations received or offered to AG and its Member Bodies and ensure all donations which are subject to review by the AG-DRG, or may be subject to rejection under this bylaw are promptly referred to the AG-DRG for consideration.
It is the responsibility of any other person receiving an offer of a donation to AG or its Member Bodies that the offer be referred to the AG-DRG for possible action under this bylaw prior to the donation being accepted.
The AG-DRG will consider and advise on donations not already covered by this Bylaw in the context of this Bylaw and National Council guidelines, as requested.
Any loan received by or offered to AG or its member bodies by an individual or entity which is subject to an agreement including conditions that could result in the loan being converted to a donation on occurrence of a particular election result or event will also be subject to the review provisions of this bylaw, but not disclosure unless the loan is converted to a donation.
Definition of Donation
(from https://www.aec.gov.au/FAQs/financial-disclosure.htm)
A disposition of property or provision of a service for which no payment, or an inadequate payment, is received. The term includes cash and non-cash (gift-in-kind) transactions, but does not include commercial transactions or volunteer labour.
(NB. This is a summary and the full AEC definition should be consulted.)
Definition of Conflict of Interest
AG is guided by the OECD approach to managing conflicts of interest (https://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/conflict-of-interest/) as follows:
A ‘conflict of interest’ involves a conflict between the public duty and the private interests of a public official, in which the public official has private interests which could improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities.
Public duty. It is the duty of members of The Greens to uphold the Greens Charter and promote our policies. It is the public duty of elected representatives and other officials of The Greens to represent their constituents impartially and act without undue influence in the community interest.
Private interests. Candidates, elected representatives and other officials of The Greens are the beneficiaries of political donations directly or to the Party and hence have a private interest in those donations. They could be, or could be reasonably perceived to be, influenced by donations (and a desire to maintain them) in the conduct of their public duties. In general larger donations have a greater potential to give rise to the perception of a conflict of interest.
Conflict. Conflict arises where decisions are actually, potentially or perceived to be made against the public interest and/or duty as a result of private interests. In addition, a conflict of interest exists if the donor is likely to receive a material benefit from a reasonably foreseeable decision that could be made by the Party or an elected Green, unless such benefit is likely to occur as a result of the donor being a member of such a broad class of beneficiary that their individual benefit is not readily identifiable or known or distinguishable from other members of that class. A conflict of interest also still exists where a donation is received from a third party or associated entity related to the individual or entity where the conflict of interest originates.
Useful reading: https://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/publications/managing-conflicts-interest-pub….
(last amended by National Council April 2024 subject to ** donations to the SA Greens not being disclosed under this policy until otherwise determined by them.)