Following the revelations of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption into donations and political influence, in June 2014, the NSW Government established an Expert Panel under the leadership of Dr Kerry Schott. This panel was to consider and report on long term reform of election funding and campaign finance laws in New South Wales.
Dr David Solomon, former Queensland Integrity Commissioner, and architect of Queensland’s Freedom of Information laws who is also a member of ART, made a submission to this panel on his stance on electoral funding.
In it he calls for continuous disclosure of political donations during an election period and that this information is readily available to the media and other interested people via the website of the Australian Electoral Commission.
He also considers that “third party campaigners should, like political parties, candidates etc. be required to disclose their funding sources, (however) it is particularly desirable that they should disclose their electoral campaign expenditures”.
The full submission is available here.