A parliamentary committee reviewing changes to federal electoral laws has found that donation caps should not apply to registered charities. Other groups (i.e. nonprofits) should only have to register as a third party if they incur more than $20,000 in electoral expenditure.

The committee found that, the existing regulatory environment for charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) provides adequate safeguards. For this reason, charities regulated under the ACNC should be included in the proposed caps on electoral expenditure, but not proposed donation caps.

Hassan Mirbahar of the Stronger Charities Alliance welcomed the report, rejecting attempts to treat charities in the same way as political parties. And while the donation cap of $20,000 will avoid red tape for small community groups, it risks income loss for many nonprofit groups.

“The purpose of donation caps is to ensure decision-makers aren’t overly influenced by any one donor, but third parties don’t sit in parliament making laws. Capping donations to third parties would mean not-for-profits that rely on donations would have their income cut while doing nothing to address flows of money to industry lobby groups,” he said.