Independent candidates have recorded a surge in donations as the two major parties rammed through changes to limit the amount politicians and candidates can spend, with one even recording the biggest number of individual donations in a single day.
Allegra Spender, Kate Chaney, Zoe Daniel and David Pocock all saw donations to their campaigns climb in the last week, as they together expressed outrage at the government’s electoral reforms.
The government argues the changes, which will cap political donations and election expenditure for the first time, will “level the playing field” and take big money out of politics.
Under the new rules, which passed parliament on Thursday morning but will not take effect until after this year’s election, single candidates will be barred from spending more than $800,000.
Special minister of state Don Farrell spearheaded the electoral rules reform. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
But a party can spend up to $90 million nationally, sparking fury from the crossbench who have accused the major parties of trying to shore up their own power in the face of challenges from independents.
Donations publicly disclosed on Ms Chaney’s website show on Thursday she received her highest-ever number of donations in a single day, with 63 people gifting between $10 and $1,000 each.
“It’s no surprise that we’ve seen a surge in donations since the electoral reform bill passed,” Ms Chaney said.
“People can see this for what it is — a blatant power grab — and they’re not happy about it.”
Independents say rushed rules don’t sit well with voters
Ms Spender also said her campaign had received a “very significant uptick” of nearly 300 “small donations” in the last week, which she flatly attributed to voter discontent about the major parties doing a deal to dramatically change electoral laws.
To put that in perspective, it’s nearly half the number of total donors that contributed to her entire 2022 campaign, in just one week.
“They’re angry and I think that’s why they’ve made all these donations,” the Wentworth MP said.
“It really shows I think how much people are engaged on this issue and how angry they are at the government and the opposition.”
She said the legislation’s rushed passage through parliament didn’t sit well with voters.
“When Australians are facing all sorts of issues, to rush through donation laws that just benefit the major parties I think is of real concern to people,” she said.
“Australians clearly don’t want to see the major parties lock in their cosy duopoly and lockout healthy competition.”
In the past day, Ms Daniel said she also received a boost from constituents worth thousands of dollars.
“I was out on the streets of my electorate this morning and people were literally stopping to tell me how pissed off they are at the dirty deal that Labor and the Liberals have done on campaign finance,” she said.
“People know this stinks, and they’re prepared to fight back.“
The ABC understands some of the independents generated the donation rise through social media posts and emailing supporters.
ACT senator David Pocock pointed out that a party could spend much more than an independent so long as they did not mention the candidate’s name.
Those criticisms coincided with a spike in donations to his campaign, too.
His team told ABC News more than 1,000 donations have been made to his 2025 campaign so far, with a 400 per cent increase this week compared to last.
“This week we saw the major parties once again team up to put their self-interest ahead of the best interests of people in the community and that has absolutely energised communities around the country looking for a different, better way of doing politics,” he said.
