AIP v ECQ has potential far-reaching effects

The Australian Institute for Progress will ask the Supreme Court this Thursday to overturn a ruling by the Electoral Commission Queensland that the Queensland Electoral Act 1992 forbids them receiving donations from property developers.

AIP Executive Director Graham Young said that the institute never thought the act was meant to cover organisations that are not political parties, and that this is a widespread understanding amongst community groups and not-for-profits.

“To better understand how the sector is positioned we have looked at a small sample of property developers who donate to community groups which also campaign on policy.

“At the same time we also checked the publications of a number of activist charities and community organisations to see who their donors were and whether we could identify any property developers.”

The table below demonstrates a number of other developer and charity connections. We have put only limited work into this as a demonstration of how widespread the issue is, and we have used our best endeavours to ensure it is accurate. While it is not comprehensive it demonstrates just how broad the definition of property developer is, as well as the range of community groups that can be caught.

“What these examples illustrate is how important the property sector is in supporting the community sector, and that imperilling these relationships will have no bearing on the aims of the legislation, which is to stop corruption.

“There is nothing sinister in these relationships. To the contrary they prove how vibrant the community sector is, with individuals and organisations coming together spontaneously to make Australia a better community.

“Our action tomorrow is not just for our benefit, as a think tank doing policy work, but for the benefit of the whole sector.”

For further information call Graham Young 0411 104 801.