The only answer to the question of political donations and corruption in Australia is strict control of spending, according to a distinguished UQ visiting fellow.
Professor of Public Law at King’s College London Keith D. Ewing, an internationally recognised leading scholar in public and labour law, is currently visiting UQ as a guest of the TC Beirne School of Law.
Professor Ewing said the question of political donations and corruption, currently evidenced in New South Wales, was an extremely contentious issue.
“This question is a huge problem in every corner of the world and one that many governments have been struggling to deal with.
"Two major law reform processes have taken place in the UK in the past 10 years, the USA underwent a major reform process in 2002, Canada has recently introduced new regulations and the federal government in Australia produced a green paper on this question last year.”
Professor Ewing has worked closely as an adviser to the British Labour Party on these issues for the past 10 years, preparing submissions on political party funding for high profile inquiries in the UK in 1998 and 2006.
“The only answer to the question of political donations and corruption is to impose tight controls on the amount of money spent,” Professor Ewing said.
“Not only should the amounts spent by candidates and political parties be strictly limited but also the amounts spent by various interest groups as well. If the amount of money spent is controlled, this would, in turn, lead to a control on the amount of money coming into the process and would create a level playing field.”
Professor Ewing said donation caps limiting how much money could be donated did not work and were easy to evade.
“The US put donation caps in place without any spending limits and is the now most expensive democracy in the world, where only the rich can compete for political office.
"Donation caps are not effective because they are easy to by-pass, by using family members such as wives and children, and also business interests, as alternative avenues for donations.”
During a similar visit to Australia last year, Professor Ewing provided advice to the ALP on possible new legislation on the funding of political parties and is following up on this work during his current stay. In 2008 he also gave the inaugural Chifley address on behalf of the ALP.
As part of his Distinguished Visiting Fellowship to UQ, Professor Ewing will be delivering a student lecture ‘Money in Politics’ at the TC Beirne School of Law at 4pm today (Tuesday September 8).
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For further information Professor Keith Ewing, email: keith.ewing@kcl.ac.uk
Lynda Flower, School of Law Marketing, 07 3365 2523, l.flower@law.uq.edu.au
Professor Keith D.Ewing biography www.law.uq.edu.au/distinguished-visiting-fellowship
