The most recent donations information available for Victoria are the Commonwealth figures for the long past financial year, 2013-2014 in which the Crown donation was made. Daniel Andrews Credit:Paul Jeffers Looking back further, Labor has failed to reveal a single property industry donation made over the past three years. In a state where developers are traditionally prominent among donors to both major parties, their absence from donor lists points to a deliberate avoidance of disclosure. The weakness of Australian political donation regulation begins at the national level. It has been especially problematic since the Howard government watered down electoral laws in 2005, including raising the threshold limit for disclosure from $1500 to $10,000; CPI increases have lifted that figure to $13,000. Recent controversies on both sides of politics have drawn renewed attention to the flaws in donations laws: on the Liberal side revelations of payments from alleged mafia figures for access to ministers; and on the Labor side, employers tipping into union coffers and slush funds to buy compliance, and bolster union power in the ALP.

They have highlighted the total lack of restrictions on donors or political spending. Any individual or entity can donate any amount of money to any political party or candidate. The weakness of the system is reinforced by lack of obligation to disclose. Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings downplayed the need for tough NSW-style anti-corruption and campaign funding measures. Credit:Jaime Murcia The identities behind at least half the money donated in Australia is a mystery. Hundreds of millions of dollars have sloshed around Australian politics in the past two decades undisclosed. Of the revenue that is disclosed by Labor in Victoria, most of it is from unions. But of Labor's $6.9 million revenue in 2013-2014, $3.5 million was publicly unaccounted for.

For the same year, 2013-2014, the Victorian Liberal Party also detailed just half of its income. As for the crucial months immediate to the November state poll, there is no information at all. Nor will there be until the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) releases its next annual "disclosures" in February 2016, 15 months after the poll. Political parties now tutor prospective benefactors in avoiding disclosure. One popular way around the laws is through non-donation contributions, such as annual subscriptions to "business forums" or events at which access to ministers is "sold" to donors. For instance, Fairfax revealed ahead of the November state poll in Victoria that companies contracted to build the contentious East West toll road – financiers Capella Capital and Spanish-based energy firm Acciona – were among the many political donors to both major parties, hidden from the view. Repeated attempts at reform in Canberra have faltered, with both the Coalition and Labor, at different times, resisting reform.

Some states, notably NSW and Queensland, have sought to plug gaps by introducing their own rules. NSW laws ban donations from the property, tobacco and gaming industries, cap annual donations at $5000 to political parties and $2000 to MPs and candidates, and requires donations above $1000 to be publicly disclosed. But not Victoria. Successive Victorian governments have sought to sidestep the donations question by insisting any reform – if it were needed – would best be handled at the national level. Andrews government Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings repeated this argument in answers to Fairfax questions last month. In May Mr Jennings, downplayed the need for tough NSW-style anti-corruption and campaign funding measures because, he said, Victoria had a cleaner political culture. Such claims have been dismissed as "bullshit" by a vocal advocate for reform, former federal Liberal leader John Hewson. "The system in Victoria is corruptible just like elsewhere," he told Fairfax in November. He has called on Victoria to follow the lead of its northern neighbours and act on donations reform, in lieu of national change. It is a call supported by Australia's leading expert on political finance, University of Melbourne's Joo-Cheong Tham.

"Victoria should adopt stricter political funding laws as a matter of priority," said Associate Professor Tham. "Its failure to adopt caps on political donations and spending has also resulted in unfair access to decision-makers, and a perception of corruption and undue influence." Responding to questions from Fairfax Media, neither the ALP nor the Liberals have committed to donations reform. In the absence of election policies on campaign funding, The Age in October asked all four major parties – the Liberals, Nationals, ALP and Greens – to open their books and allow voters to see who was funding their campaigns for last year's state poll. Only the Greens agreed to do so.