Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan regarding the NTEC Financial Disclosure Compliance Review Report

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Katie Woolf spoke with Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan regarding the NTEC Financial Disclosure Compliance Review Report · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie wolf On mixed one oh four
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin Well.
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  Speaker 2: A report into financial disclosures and compliance of registered political
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: parties including their associated entities, third party campaigners and candidates
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  Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty territory election has been released by
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Electoral Commission and the Northern Territories Electoral
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  Speaker 2: Commissioner joins me on the line right now, Ian Logan, Aisan,
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  Speaker 2: good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Ian, tell us a little bit more about what the
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  Speaker 2: report looked into, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: What the report looked into was at the election last year,
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  Speaker 1: we had significant changes to political donations. For the first
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  Speaker 1: time in territory elections, there was a cap on donations,
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  Speaker 1: so there was a cap on expenditure, so that meant
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  Speaker 1: you could spend forty thousand per seat, so if a
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  Speaker 1: party ran in all twenty five seats, they could spend
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  Speaker 1: a million dollars in total. In addition, there was additional
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  Speaker 1: requirements in regard to disclosure. Rather than just disclosing at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the election, they had to provide quarterly
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  Speaker 1: reports and the lead up to the election, plus additional
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  Speaker 1: reports during the election period. There was also the registration
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  Speaker 1: of the party campaigners. So there was a lot of changes.
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  Speaker 1: They were the major ones. And the purpose of this
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  Speaker 1: compliance review, which is conducted by the accounting firm BDO,
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  Speaker 1: was to ensure that all you know, PARTICI political participants
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  Speaker 1: complied with the relevant.
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  Speaker 2: Law and overall, did the review find that most did
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  Speaker 2: the right thing? Look?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it did. It said, Look there was generally there
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  Speaker 1: was compliance with the with the new requirements, and most
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  Speaker 1: people did the right thing. You know, there were a
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  Speaker 1: few people who have failed to comply, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're certainly chasing them up, chasing them up, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: as soon as report was released, some people have provided
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  Speaker 1: us information and that's been updated on our website and in.
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  Speaker 2: What ways did they not comply?
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  Speaker 1: So some people haven't provided information to BDO. So if
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  Speaker 1: I can explain this a little more, is that people
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  Speaker 1: provide us a return and we just put that up
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  Speaker 1: on the website. So they say they might have donated,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they might have spent nine thousand dollars. What
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  Speaker 1: the point of the review is that they need to
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  Speaker 1: provide relevant information to show they only spent nine thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars and they didn't spend any more, and this information
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  Speaker 1: is requested and it's verified, and it's checked against their
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  Speaker 1: own accounting system as well as their bank records. Look,
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  Speaker 1: a ninety eight percent of people provided information. A couple didn't,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly we're going to be chasing those up and
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  Speaker 1: request the required information.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, what is sort of
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  Speaker 2: the punishment or what's the consequence if you won't follow
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  Speaker 2: all the rules.
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  Speaker 1: Look, there are penalty provisions under the Act. You know,
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  Speaker 1: if you try to circumvent the expenditure cap, the maximum
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  Speaker 1: jail penalties ten years. And if you try to contravene
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  Speaker 1: the expenditure cap for a party the maximum final is
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty two thousand, So they are significant penalties.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing in this report that would indicate that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: anyone's done anything sort of untoward. Some people just haven't
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  Speaker 1: provided information, but you know, they're not the big parties,
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  Speaker 1: or they're not the big donors or anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: It's certainly for smaller amounts. But you know, we've got
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  Speaker 1: an obligation to check this up and make sure that
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  Speaker 1: all people can fly.
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  Speaker 2: And I understand that there had been some confusion from
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  Speaker 2: some some of the local members or some of those
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  Speaker 2: who are obviously running at the last election around electoral
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  Speaker 2: allowances and whether they are able to use some of those,
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  Speaker 2: you know, some of that money on different things in
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  Speaker 2: the lead into an election.
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  Speaker 1: Look, Katie, like I said, this is the first election
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  Speaker 1: where we've had an expenditure cap. Electorate allowances are exactly that,
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  Speaker 1: they're electoral allowances. They're not to be used for political
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  Speaker 1: or electioneering purposes. You know, we certainly did get a
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  Speaker 1: number of complaints during the election, but what the report
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  Speaker 1: has raised is that there needs to be educate better
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  Speaker 1: education in two members in relation to what electoral allowances
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  Speaker 1: can be used for and that they can't be used
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  Speaker 1: for electioneering purposes. And you know, this is particularly the
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  Speaker 1: case during an election because the whole point of having
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  Speaker 1: these expenditure caps is to create a level playing field.
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  Speaker 1: So it is inequitable if setting members have access to
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  Speaker 1: other sources of funds that are outside the cap to
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  Speaker 1: aid their campaigns.
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  Speaker 2: So, in following on from this report, are there any
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  Speaker 2: sort of areas there you know, of concern for you
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  Speaker 2: or areas that we need to sort of follow up
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  Speaker 2: on and potentially look at changes.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I think they're certainly going to there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be significant reform to this area, or proposed reform, I
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  Speaker 1: should say from the Electoral Commission. We're writing our report
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  Speaker 1: now in regard to the election. This is the first time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we've had such complicated sort of compliance regimes.
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  Speaker 1: It was doubly complicated because nobody contemplated that we would
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  Speaker 1: have a by election, a legislative legislative Assembly by election,
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  Speaker 1: in the same year as an election. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: there were returns for that, there were returns for the elections.
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  Speaker 1: Everything had to be done, they were sort of over
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  Speaker 1: the same period. So you know, we think that there
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  Speaker 1: could be a streamline to make it easier for the
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  Speaker 1: participants and make it easier for the Electoral Commission while
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  Speaker 1: still having people comply. I think the big outstanding issue
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  Speaker 1: that was raised in the report is the fact that
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  Speaker 1: there's no cap for third party campaigners. So you know
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  Speaker 1: that could you know, that could mean that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you could run as a candidate and you could have
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  Speaker 1: some third parties spending money promoting your campaign and they're
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  Speaker 1: not subject to a cap, you know, and that sort
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  Speaker 1: of just undermines that whole process. So we were pretty
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  Speaker 1: we put forward that there should be a cap initially,
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  Speaker 1: but the decision was that we would run the election
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  Speaker 1: and then to determine what an appropriate cap would be.
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  Speaker 1: And we certainly think there should be a cap for
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  Speaker 1: third parties and that will definitely be a recommendation in
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  Speaker 1: the election report.
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  Speaker 2: Now, when it comes to the election report and those recommendations,
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  Speaker 2: what's then the process? Does that need to go through
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  Speaker 2: the Parliament or you know, how do you get those
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  Speaker 2: changes sort of into place that are required.
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  Speaker 1: So what happened last time is that the report gets
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  Speaker 1: table in Parliament and then it went to one of
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  Speaker 1: those scrutiny committees and there was a process terms of
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  Speaker 1: looking at the recommendations and seeking submissions. So, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we would have to work out in terms of what
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  Speaker 1: the process is going to be. But certainly there will
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  Speaker 1: be some level of review into the Electoral Act which
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  Speaker 1: would look at, you know, the recommendations made by the
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  Speaker 1: electoral Commissions, but it also should look at recommendations or
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  Speaker 1: suggestions by other participants, you know, whether it be parties, campaigners,
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  Speaker 1: you know, just donors, other people who are involved in
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  Speaker 1: the political process and can the steer views and then
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  Speaker 1: ultimately there will be suggested amendments to the Act which
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  Speaker 1: will go to Parliament for their consideration.
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  Speaker 2: So by the sounds of things, any changes that do
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  Speaker 2: come into play, they be a little way off. But
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  Speaker 2: is it your hope that you know, if we are
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  Speaker 2: to see some change in this space that it is
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  Speaker 2: before the next election, look.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, that would definitely be the Well, there would be
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of it. We're trying to make democracy better
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  Speaker 1: and you do that by refining it after every election
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  Speaker 1: and looking at what issues are and looking at what
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  Speaker 1: can be changed and what can be improved. These provisions
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  Speaker 1: have been a giant leap forward for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: They've been in other jurisdictions for a long period of
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  Speaker 1: time and to a degree we've caught up with them,
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  Speaker 1: but we need to keep up with them and they're
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  Speaker 1: refining them and we will be going through that process
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  Speaker 1: as well. And to make democracy stronger and to make
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  Speaker 1: democracy fairer.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and I think it needs to be. Electoral
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  Speaker 2: Commissioner Ian Logan, Nathan, it's always good to catch up
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  Speaker 2: with you. We appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Katie, thank you