Critics worry that the Albanese government’s political spending and donation reforms will have unforeseen consequences and entrench the two-party duopoly.

The bill will introduce spending caps designed to battle the “financial arms race” in political contests, limiting parties to spending $90 million per election federally and $800,000 in individual electorates.

It will also increase public funding for each vote won by a candidate or party to $5, up from $3.35.

Bill Browne, director of the Australia Institute’s Democracy and Accountability Program, said that a rushed process, without transparency, does not inspire confidence that the changes will achieve their intended goals.

“The reality is there have been well-intentioned changes at the state and territory level to election laws that have ended up having the opposite effect,” he said.

“Changes in Victoria concentrated financial power among a smaller group of people when the entire purpose was to spread it more widely.”

He said that legislation created with secret negotiation and consultation between the two major parties risks perverse outcomes and unintended consequences.

“All of this is unnecessary because there’s no plan for the laws to come into effect for the next election,” Browne said.

“It’s a testament to just how complicated this is that it’s taken the entire term of the Albanese government to get something together, and now we’re expected to think that in two weeks this can all be sorted out.”

The government has consulted with the Coalition on the contents of the bill and has said it is confident it will pass with the blessing of its political rivals, but has not released the full legislation.

Donation caps

Under the released details, donors will be able to give no more than $20,000 in a calendar year and the disclosure threshold will be lowered to $1000, indexed every three years, alongside monthly reporting and disclosure.

Dr Stewart Jackson, a senior lecturer in government and international relations at the University of Sydney, said that although the issue of caps on spending and donations is not new, the threshold for donation disclosure being $1000 is “a radical departure from the model used by both major parties”.

“I think it’s a positive move: The caps on spending seem OK, noting that NSW has harder caps that have really limited spending on state elections,” he said.

“Plus of course, the donations regulations are the toughest here, a nightmare for compliance, but actually seem to keep parties at least vaguely honest.”

Unions, lobbying groups and special interest groups like Climate 200, which contributed to independent campaigns around the country, will be subject to the rules.

Funding from Climate 200, founded by Simon Holmes a Court, to community independent candidates will be policed under the new legislation. Photo: AAP

Browne said that lowering the current disclosure limit of around $17,000 will create more transparency in the political system, but questioned why its introduction was being delayed.

“That’s a change that could have been in place for this election and we could be getting data on who’s funding political parties and candidates,” he said.

“That would actually better position the parliament to introduce more expensive changes after the next election.”

Independent angst

Community independents, known as the teals, have warned about the effects of electoral reform that gives an unfair advantage to the Labor Party and the Coalition through public funding.

The drip feed of details about the legislation hasn’t allayed those fears ahead of it being tabled in parliament next week.

Alongside criticism from other independents and Clive Palmer, Zoe Daniel, independent MP for Goldstein, called the proposed changes “the greater electoral reform con”.

“Ramming this complex bill through the parliament without proper scrutiny before Christmas when it won’t even come into effect until after the next election is a sign of desperation from the major parties,” Daniel said.

“This law could fundamentally change who can get into parliament for a generation.”