Donate to Rosmairi’s Campaign
Donations
Prohibited donors
It is unlawful for a:
prohibited donor to make a political donation or loan
person to make a political donation or loan on behalf of a prohibited donor
person to accept a donation or loan made by a prohibited donor or a person on behalf of a prohibited donor
prohibited donor to solicit another person to make a political donation or loan
person to solicit another person on behalf of a prohibited donor to make a political donation or loan.
This does not apply to the following:
- loans, where the lender is a financial institution whose principal business is the provision of financial services or financial products, including authorised deposit-taking institutions
- an annual or other subscription paid to a party by an individual as a member of the party or for the individual’s affiliation with the party, unless the donation is a reportable political donation
- the making, acceptance or soliciting of a political donation, or the making of a gift to an individual for the purpose of the individual making a political donation, that is to be paid into (or held as an asset of) an account kept exclusively for the purposes of federal government election campaigns
- the making, acceptance or soliciting of a political donation, or the making of a gift to an individual for the purpose of the individual making a political donation, to a third-party campaigner that is not to be paid into (or held as an asset of) the campaign account of the third-party campaigner.
Examples of prohibited donors
A prohibited donor is:
a property developer
a tobacco industry business entity
a liquor or gambling industry business entity
any industry representative organisation if the majority of its members are such prohibited donors
a close associate of a prohibited donor.
Property developers
A ‘property developer’ is an individual or corporation that:
- carries on a business mainly concerned with the residential or commercial development of land, with the ultimate purpose of its sale or lease of the land for profit, and
- in the course of that business:
- one relevant planning application has been made by or on behalf of the individual or corporation that is pending
- three or more relevant planning applications have been made by or on behalf of the individual or corporation and determined within the preceding seven years.
A person who is a close associate of a property developer is also a prohibited donor.
A relevant planning application has the same meaning as in section 10.4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
Tobacco business entities
A tobacco industry business entity is a corporation engaged in a business undertaking that is mainly concerned with the manufacture or sale of tobacco products.
A person who is a close associate of a tobacco industry business entity is also a prohibited donor.
Liquor or gambling industry business entities
A liquor or gambling industry business entity is a corporation engaged in a business undertaking that is mainly concerned with either or a combination of the following, but only if it is for the ultimate purpose of making a profit:
- the manufacture or sale of liquor products,
- wagering, betting or other gambling (including the manufacture of machines used primarily for that purpose).
A person who is a close associate of a liquor or gambling industry business entity is also a prohibited donor.
Close associate
A close associate of a prohibited donor that is a corporation is:
- a director or officer of the corporation
- the spouse (including a de facto partner) of a director or officer of the corporation,
- a related body corporate of the corporation
- a person whose voting power in the corporation or a related body corporate of the corporation is greater than 20 per cent or the spouse (including a de facto partner) of such a person
- if the corporation or a related body corporate of the corporation is a stapled entity in relation to a stapled security – the other stapled entity in relation to that stapled security
- if the corporation is a trustee, manager or responsible entity in relation to a trust – a person who holds more than 20 per cent of the units in the trust (in the case of a unit trust) or is a beneficiary of a trust (in the case of a discretionary trust)
- in relation to a corporation that is a property developer – a person in a joint venture or partnership with the property developer in connection with a relevant planning application made by or on behalf of the property developer who is likely to obtain a financial gain if that if development that would be or is authorised by the application is authorised or carried out.
A close associate of a prohibited donor that is an individual is:
- the spouse (including a de facto partner) of the individual, or
- in relation to an individual who is a property developer – a person in a joint venture or partnership with the property developer in connection with a relevant planning application made by or on behalf of the property developer who is likely to obtain a financial gain if development that would be or is authorised by the application is authorised or carried out.
Donations Policy
Community First Independents are committed to enhancing Australia’s democratic process and will pursue the model of publicly funded elections that they participate in. We believe in the requirement for transparency and equitable access that allows the democratic process to proceed without the risk of corruption through donations.
The current requirements of declaring donations, including gifts-in-kind as defined by the Australian Electoral Commission, are used by each individual in our group. We promote transparent practices, will accept donations from individuals and legal entities other than public for-profit corporations, subject to ethical review.
Community First Independents commit to:
- Ensure that where any individual’s cumulative donations to our campaign and for any individual member, total $1,000 or more within a twelve month period their donations, will be declared as required.
- We seek to ensure that the values and aspirations of any donors are consistent with those values that our group advocate for.
- We seek to ensure that no donation is accepted or retained if it gives rise to or is likely to give rise to a conflict of interest.
- We consider agreements with donors about expenditure of their donations subject to negotiations with relevant candidates participating in our campaign.
- We ensure candidates do not solicit or accept personally any donation to be used for the relevant election campaign that we are conducting as a group or individual.
- We will maintain transparency in donor identity by declaring any donation and whether that donation over the previous twelve month period were to reach a cumulative total amount to $1,000 or more via the Electoral Commission Funding and Disclosure requirements bi-annually.
- Ensure that donations rejected as a result of the electoral commission rules and regulations, and those of a prohibited donor, are returned to the donor at the earliest opportunity.
The acceptance of any donation by Community First Independents group participants does not imply endorsement of the activities, undertakings or processes of the donor.
Implementation of this donations policy will be overseen by the Lead Candidate of the group.
It is the responsibility of the Group Lead Candidate to ensure systems are in place which can effectively monitor all donations received or offered to Community First Independents and to ensure all donations which are subject to review by the lead candidate, or may be subject to rejection under this policy, are promptly returned.
Any loan received by or offered to a member of Community First Independent Group 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 policy, 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
Community First Independents are guided by the OECD approach to managing conflicts of interest (https://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/conflict-of-interest/) as follows: