The Tasmanian government has unveiled long-awaited legislation to overhaul the state's political donations rules, but opponents say they would still be the weakest laws in the country.
The bill was unexpectedly tabled in state parliament on Tuesday, more than four years after former premier Will Hodgman promised to look at reforms.
Mr Hodgman's promise was made amid claims the 2018 state election was "bought" as a result of donations poured into Liberal Party coffers from the gambling industry.
Under the bill, political donations of more than $5,000 would need to be declared within seven days during election cycles, or six-monthly otherwise.
That minimum threshold remains much higher than the $1,000 experts and opposition parties said would be preferable, and which is in place in most other states.
South Australia is the outlier, with a threshold of $5,000.
At the moment, only donations of more than $14,500 need to be declared in Tasmania, and they are not made public until six months after the end of the financial year to which the donations relate.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said there was nothing in the legislation that would change how donations were made by the gambling industry in 2018, and she would move amendments in parliament to try and strengthen it.
"The Liberals want to keep raking in the money from big gambling, big mining, and developers, and they've set up a donations law framework that suits their fundraising purposes very well indeed."
Ms O'Connor said some measures, such as public funding for House of Assembly elections, were welcome improvements.
Independent MP Kristie Johnston said the bill was a farce, and she wanted to see action taken to ensure truth in political advertising as well.
"It's a joke and really an insult to the community, who are really concerned about the bastardisation of democracy through the corrupt practices of donating and buying votes," Ms Johnston said.
"The threshold for donations disclosure at $5,000 is too high, it simply does not pass the common sense test."
Opposition will seek to amend lack of expenditure caps
Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson said the government believed the $5,000 threshold was appropriate for Tasmania.
"You've got to find a balance here always, we've settled on that amount of money and I think most Tasmanians would agree that it certainly captures donations above $5,000, which could be argued is large support from, let's say, the corporate or other sectors," Mr Ferguson said.
Mr Ferguson said the government had gone through an extensive consultation process.
Foreign donations would be banned under the reforms, but there would be no limits on donations from any corporate or industry sectors, for example, property developers.
The laws would also include a cap of $18,500 for campaign expenditure for Legislative Council candidates, but no caps for those running in House of Assembly elections.
Campaign expenditure caps of $30,000 for individual candidates and $750,000 for parties running in House of Assembly elections had been recommended by the University of Tasmania's Institute for Social Change.
Labor Shadow Attorney-General Ella Haddad said the lack of expenditure caps was one of the most significant gaps in the legislation that the Opposition would seek to amend.
"The most glaring omission is that this bill doesn't impose spending caps on parties or candidates," she said.
"Until we start reining in how much people can spend on election campaigns, we will never have a true level playing field in Tasmanian politics."
Ms Johnston said the lack of expenditure caps made it difficult for independents to compete against major parties to win seats.
