Fines or Up to 2 Years Jail for Political Donations from Property Developers, Banks, and Certain Other Industries
Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Banning Dirty Donations) Bill 2026
Private Member's BillSenate
House of Representatives
Assent
Introduced by: Steph Hodgins-May (GRN)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
Bans political donations from property developers; financial institutions; tobacco; liquor; gambling; mineral; fossil fuel; defence; and pharmaceutical entities
Criminalises making; accepting; or soliciting donations on behalf of these prohibited donors
Sets jail time up to 2 years or fines for those who break the donation ban
Imposes civil penalties of 200 penalty units or three times the gift value for banned donations
Slashes the annual gift cap from $50,000 to $1,000; by-election and Senate-only caps drop to $3,000
Classifies party subscriptions and affiliation fees as gifts unless they are for membership and under $1,000 a year
Forces recipients of unlawful gifts to pay the value of the gift back to the Commonwealth
Property developers, banks, and companies in the tobacco, liquor, gambling, mining, defence, and pharmaceutical industries are banned from making political donations.
People cannot make political donations on behalf of these banned donors, and no one can accept donations from them.
Banned donors and their representatives cannot ask other people to make political donations.
People who make, accept, or ask for these banned donations can be fined or jailed for up to 2 years.
People who break these rules can also be fined the higher of 200 penalty units or three times the value of the donation.
Political parties, candidates, and their agents must pay back the value of any banned donation to the Commonwealth.