Labor is still chasing a deal for a contentious overhaul of electoral laws, with the Coalition yet to green-light the legislation ahead of debate in the Senate.
But crossbenchers believe a “major party stitch-up” remains on the cards, accusing the government and opposition of conspiring to re-write the rulebook to entrench the political duopoly.
The special minister of state, Don Farrell, is pushing for a deal on laws to curb the influence of billionaires such as Clive Palmer on federal elections.
The legislation – which was scheduled to be debated on Thursday – would cap individual donations at $20,000, limit spending to $800,000 per seat and $90m nationally, and require near-real-time disclosure of donations above $1,000.
Public funding to parties and independents would also increase from $3.35 per vote to $5.
“I’m hopeful that this Senate, this week will see the merit in putting downward pressure on the amount of money that’s being spent in Australian elections,” Farrell told ABC radio on Wednesday.
While Farrell has held talks with all sides, independents Kate Chaney and David Pocock believe Labor is intent on a deal between the major parties after he privately rebuffed their push to split the legislation.
The crossbenchers want the caps scrutinised by a parliamentary inquiry amid concerns the donations and spending limits would make it harder for an aspiring independent to unseat a major party incumbent.
The six teal independents who defeated Liberals MPs at the 2022 election – Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel, Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink and Chaney – each spent more than the proposed $800,000 cap during their successful campaigns.
Dai Le – who is not politically aligned with the teals – was the outlier, spending $161,000 to win the western Sydney seat of Fowler.
Farrell was on the brink of an agreement with the Coalition late last year before it collapsed at the 11th-hour, reportedly after Labor sought changes to ensure union fees that fund campaigns weren’t caught in the $20,000 cap.
Negotiations between the major parties have resumed, but a deal was yet to be made as of Wednesday afternoon, sources confirmed.
The shadow special minister of state, Jane Hume, refused to comment on the negotiations, including any potential sticking points holding up a deal.
“I’m not going to reveal the conversations the Coalition and the opposition may have been having with the government on this issue,” Hume told reporters.
“We learned that the government have been having conversations right around the chamber. I’m not going to go into exactly what those private conversations would be, other than to say that this is now in the government’s court.”
The proposed caps would not come into effect until the federal election due in 2028.
But Labor wants the legislation passed now to avoid having to navigate a potential hung parliament in the next term, where the crossbench could use the balance-of-power to thwart the major parties’ plans.
This sitting fortnight would be final chance this term if the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, calls the election before budget week in late March.
The secrecy surrounding the Labor-Coalition negotiations has fuelled crossbench fears of an imminent deal between the major parties.
“We’re a land of duopolies. [t’s] no surprise that the ultimate duopoly, the Labor and Liberal parties, their response to competition is to rejig the rules, to remove competition rather than actually getting better at their argument,” Pocock said.
Chaney echoed Pocock’s concerns, arguing it was unreasonable for the laws to be rammed through parliament without proper scrutiny.
The government has argued that donation and spending caps were widely canvassed by parliament’s joint-standing committee on electoral matters.
“If you’re changing who can get into parliament, which this bill does, it deserves a lot of scrutiny, and the public should have a really good understanding of what we’re doing,” Chaney said.
“We don’t let Coles and Woolies make the laws about supermarket competition, but Liberal and Labor are getting together and deciding who can compete with them.”
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