Amy Remeikis reports in the Brisbane Times (28.2.16) on the outcome of Electoral Commission investigations into several unidentified donations to the LNP in 2014, before the donations disclosure threshold was reduced to its previous $1,000 limit.
‘Anonymous donors who gave nearly $100,000 to the LNP under the Newman government will remain unnamed, with the Electoral Commission confirming it is no longer pursuing the LNP over the matter.
‘Last year, the Electoral Commission of Queensland said it was seeking Crown Law advice over the unnamed donations, after the LNP was unable to put names to 28 donations, all under $10,000, it received between January and June 2014.
‘At that time, the Newman government had raised the donation declaration threshold from $1000 to $12,800, meaning the donations were not originally declared.
‘When Labor came to power in 2015, it lowered the declaration limit back to $1000 and made the changes retrospective, meaning the LNP had to resubmit its return to the Electoral Commission, with previously, legally, undeclared donations.
‘But despite the Electoral Act declaring it unlawful for political parties to receive donations “unless the relevant particulars of the entity making the gift are known to the person receiving the gift”, since 2011, which allows the state to recover money political parties cannot identify donors for.’