50 years of campaign finance study in Australia

Abstract

Colin A Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Queensland, looks at the history of the study of campaign finance in Australia and why it has been so under-developed. in 2006 campaign finance has been a regular feature in the media. This is partly because of recent amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which have been criticised as fatally weakening the disclosure provisions applying since 1984, and partly because of scandals and what one might call notorious events. One such event was the disclosure of a million-dollar donation to one party by someone not resident in Australia. Others involved donations to candidates and parties at particular local government, State and federal elections. For the first time the public is taking an interest in what used to be a backwater of Australian politics