Liberal and National parties tried to stop release of AEC reviews of their finances
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Version 0 of 1. The National party in Victoria attempted to suppress an Australian Electoral Commission review of its political donation disclosures by arguing it could be used by its own party members with “personal agendas”. Reviews obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws have revealed widespread failures in political parties’ compliance with their federal disclosure obligations. Only three parties objected to the release of their disclosures. The AEC rejected the arguments against release, but conceded some redactions could be made in a few cases. The documents have not yet been released as each party has 30 days to appeal. Related: Revealed: political parties' widespread failure to disclose donations In a highly unusual argument, the Victorian Nationals said the disclosures contained commercial information that could be used by political opponents – and by members of its own party. “For the party’s political opponents, whether they be individuals or institutions, access to this information could be used to destabilise or embarrass the party and harm its political objective,” the National party argued, according to the AEC decision letter. It continued: “Individuals or groups within the party with personal agendas, may use the information to their personal advantage and in a manner that would conflict with the values of and disadvantage the party. Related: Political parties' fortunes laid out in black and white – and red – by AEC “The information could potentially be used by the party’s opponents, political and media, to diminish the public reputation of the Party jeopardising the financial viability of the party”. The NSW Liberal Party and four of its associated entities – Bunori Pty Ltd, Dame Pattie Menzies Foundation, Liberal Asset Management (Custodians) Ltd and Liberal Properties Limited – also attempted to suppress the reviews. In identical terms, the organisations argued that disclosure could unreasonably affect their business affairs by “releasing politically sensitive information about the internal machinations of the division”. They also argued that the release “does not satisfy any public interest test as the electoral act already has a public disclosure component”, and that “most of the information contained in the review document is already publicly available”. Related: Liberal National party fundraising bodies forced to correct AEC returns The Country Liberals (Northern Territory) said the release of two reviews into its activities “may create an opportunity for our opponents to cherry pick parts of the review and convey a completely different, negative outcome, to the public which would not be in our interests, unfair, and may allow your review to be used in a way that was not its intended purpose”. The AEC’s senior lawyer said publication was “justifiable as a demonstration [of] the transparency in the AEC’s monitoring of compliance”. The reviews are undertaken periodically by the AEC and are generally initiated on a random basis over a three year cycle. The director of the NSW Liberal party, Tony Nutt, said the party considered the reviews to be an internal issue with the AEC. “The original compliance review and matters that were subsequently dealt with relate to the period in 2010-11,” Nutt said. “On the information available to me all relevant matters were dealt with in compliance with commonwealth law and to the satisfaction of the Australian Electoral Commission.” “The Liberal party regarded working papers and process issues as internal matters between it and the AEC.” The Victorian Nationals and the NT Country Liberals did not respond to requests for comment. Related: Liberal National party fundraising bodies forced to correct AEC returns In a highly unusual argument, the Victorian Nationals said the disclosures contained commercial information that could be used by political opponents – and by members of its own party. “For the party’s political opponents, whether they be individuals or institutions, access to this information could be used to destabilise or embarrass the party and harm its political objective,” the National party argued, according to the AEC decision letter. It continued: “Individuals or groups within the party with personal agendas, may use the information to their personal advantage and in a manner that would conflict with the values of and disadvantage the party. “The information could potentially be used by the party’s opponents, political and media, to diminish the public reputation of the Party jeopardising the financial viability of the party”. The NSW Liberal Party and four of its associated entities – Bunori Pty Ltd, Dame Pattie Menzies Foundation, Liberal Asset Management (Custodians) Ltd and Liberal Properties Limited – also attempted to suppress the reviews. In identical terms, the organisations argued that disclosure could unreasonably affect their business affairs by “releasing politically sensitive information about the internal machinations of the division”. They also argued that the release “does not satisfy any public interest test as the electoral act already has a public disclosure component”, and that “most of the information contained in the review document is already publicly available”. The Country Liberals (Northern Territory) said the release of two reviews into its activities “may create an opportunity for our opponents to cherry pick parts of the review and convey a completely different, negative outcome, to the public which would not be in our interests, unfair, and may allow your review to be used in a way that was not its intended purpose”. The AEC’s senior lawyer said publication was “justifiable as a demonstration [of] the transparency in the AEC’s monitoring of compliance”. The reviews are undertaken periodically by the AEC and are generally initiated on a random basis over a three year cycle. The director of the NSW Liberal party, Tony Nutt, said the party considered the reviews to be an internal issue with the AEC. “The original compliance review and matters that were subsequently dealt with relate to the period in 2010-11,” Nutt said. “On the information available to me all relevant matters were dealt with in compliance with commonwealth law and to the satisfaction of the Australian Electoral Commission.” “The Liberal party regarded working papers and process issues as internal matters between it and the AEC.” The Victorian Nationals and the NT Country Liberals did not respond to requests for comment. |