Labor proposes Tasmanian election spending caps

Tasmanian Labor wants to bring in spending caps for state elections. Parties could spend up to $50,000 per candidate, and independents up to $60,000.

Tasmania's upper house and local government elections already have spending limits.

Labor will table a bill in parliament this week, and hopes to debate it in the lower house by the end of the year.

Tasmania's Labor opposition is seeking to bring in expenditure caps for state elections for the first time, with leader Josh Willie calling the reforms a "guardrail" against "corporate capture".

The party will table a private members' bill in parliament this week that would cap how much a party can spend in any election campaign at $50,000 per candidate.

That would limit a party with 35 candidates (seven in each of Tasmania's five lower house seats) to spend $1.75 million.

Under the law, independents would be allowed to spend $60,000, given they don't have a central campaign.

Third party campaigners and associated entities would be limited to $75,000.

"What this reform will do is make sure that politics is a contest of ideas, not a contest on who has the biggest bank balance," said Mr Willie.

"Nobody should be able to buy an election, and without guardrails in place, Tasmania is exposed."

He said the reform would create a "level playing field" for new entrants and political parties.

Shadow Attorney-General Ella Haddad said "the last thing people wanted to see" was big money flowing into election campaigns.

"People can come in and drown out everybody else's voice through buying up all of the advertising space available on TV or putting more money into social media advertising," she said.

The opposition plans to debate the bill in the lower house before the end of the year.

It has briefed the crossbench in recent weeks, but Mr Willie said he expected the Liberal government and One Nation to oppose the bill.

Meanwhile, election spending limits are in place for Australian federal elections, and in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory's state elections.

South Australia has gone so far as to ban political donations.

Labor's proposed cap would include advertising costs, posts and flyers, consultant and agency fees, opinion polling and research, and any gifts in kind.

Administration and operating expenses, including staff, would not count.

The amounts would be indexed in line with inflation, and any party's spending in one particular electorate would also be limited.

The maximum spend would apply from nine months out from an election, or if an early election is called, the day parliament is dissolved.

A financial penalty for exceeding the cap would be set at twice the amount a party or candidate overspent.

The law would establish a criminal offence for intentionally circumventing the rules, with potential punishments including fines and jail terms.

Last year, Tasmania lowered the political donation disclosure threshold to $1,000, meaning parties and candidates had to disclose the source of any donation above that.

The new rules also required parties and candidates to report campaign spending to the Tasmanian Electoral Commission for the first time in 2025.

Disclosures provided to the TEC show Labor spent the most from July 1 onwards, with a total declared spend of $1.73 million.

The Liberals declared $1.13 million in campaign spending, and the Greens $375,000.

Among independents, Franklin MPs Peter George and David O'Byrne led with around $106,000 and $79,000, respectively.

Kristie Johnston meanwhile spent around $21,000, and George Razay less than $15,000.

The 2025 state election occurred just 15 months after the previous one, and is understood to have seen lower spending levels across the board.

The University of Tasmania's Professor Richard Eccleston said spending caps could help curb big money's influence on politics.

"I think voters in Tasmania, nationally, and beyond, are concerned about the influence of money and wealthy actors on politics," he said.

He said the limits proposed by Labor were "broadly similar" to those in other jurisdictions like the ACT, which also has Hare-Clark multi-member electorates.

Prof. Eccleston also backed capping the amount that third parties could spend, particularly if candidates' own spending was capped.

At the 2018 state election, the Tasmanian Hospitality Association (now Hospitality Tasmania) railed against Labor's policy to take poker machines out of pubs and clubs.

At the time, it was rumoured that $5 million was spent on the Love Your Local campaign, though the organisation denied that figure.

Geoffrey Watson, of the Centre for Public Integrity, said spending caps were "a step towards the right direction".

However, he has warned spending caps could "greatly favour" incumbents.

"If you're a newcomer to an election, you don't have established staff, you don't have an office in Parliament House, you don't have an electorate office," he said.

"You've got to set all of that up, you've got to invest your own money into it — and the thing is that you're taking a huge risk."