Firms that have made political donations in the past year would be barred from winning government contracts under a Greens bill aimed at forcing major consultancies to stop donating.
The Greens democracy spokesperson, Larissa Waters, who will introduce the private member’s bill, vowed to put a stop to what she claimed could be seen as a form of “legalised bribery” that had allowed the big four consultancies to donate $4.3m to the major parties over the past decade.
The push follows a decision by PwC in the wake of the tax advice scandal to end the practice of making political donations, a policy that rivals KPMG and Deloitte have opted not to follow.
The Albanese government will also be pushed by a separate crossbench bill being developed by civil society groups, known as the fair play bill, to limit the influence of big money in politics without unfairly disadvantaging new political entrants.
The bill responds to indications from the electoral matters committee and special minister of state, Don Farrell, that Labor intends to cap political donations and spending, a move that Climate 200 has warned could harm community independents.
The fair play bill would limit individual donations to the tens of thousands, but civil society groups believe non-major party candidates who are not already in parliament should be able to receive more to compensate for the incumbency advantages of MPs having existing offices and staff.
Unlike Labor’s plan to cap election spending, the bill would limit spending on advertising only, meaning spending on staff and other expenses would be uncapped.
The civil society groups, including Australian Democracy Network and the Human Rights Legal Centre, also want to ban ministers moving into industry jobs for a period of three years and to tighten the definition of gifts and donations to include membership fees.
The Greens bill prohibits any commonwealth contracts or grants being awarded to an organisation that has made a political donation in the past 12 months, including if a controlling shareholder or executive board member has made a political donation.
Any organisations that have already received a grant or tender will be banned from making a political donation for a year.
Waters told Guardian Australia “money shouldn’t be able to buy government contracts, development approvals, political access or political influence”.
Waters said the big four consultancies had secured $8bn in government contracts over a decade, work that, in her opinion, “could and should largely be done by a strong, independent public service”.
“The big four should not be able to further entrench their power and influence over government, and their profit margins, by making political donations, and certainly not when they are tendering for a government contract.”
Farrell has promised to engage with the crossbench and said he wants to achieve the “widest level of support from the political parties” for electoral law reforms including political donation and spending caps, and truth-in-political advertising laws.
Alice Drury, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said she would “implore all sides to come to the table and design a system that’s fair”.
“The importance of keeping democracy open and giving voters a real choice is a primary concern alongside the need to reduce harmful industries in our politics.”
