Mathias Cormann has conceded the Coalition may have to make changes to the foreign donations ban bill, as crossbench senators revolt over the administrative burden it places on minor parties, charities and activists.

Of particular concern are changes that would require campaigning organisations to get statutory declarations to check the identity of donors who give more than $250 and for parties to log their campaign spending to claim public funding for elections.

The Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, Cory Bernardi of the Australian Conservatives and the Nick Xenophon Team’s Stirling Griff have all expressed concerns about the bill, joining the Greens and Labor in asking for changes.

Griff said NXT did not object to the ban on foreign donations but “won’t support the bill in its current form”.

“The administrative burden on smaller parties is massive,” he said.

The electoral funding and disclosure bill requires political parties and other political campaigners to ensure donors of more than $250 are “allowable donors” – such as Australian citizens or residents – and are not foreign entities.

It also changes rules on public funding of elections so political parties that win 4% or more of the vote would get $2.70 per vote of public funding or the amount of their electoral expenditure, whichever is lesser.

Griff said the requirement “makes sense on the surface” but, as the NXT was learning in the South Australian state election, required the equivalent of two fulltime staff to deal with the administrative burden.

“Where is a minor party going to find the money to do this?”

Leyonhjelm said there were “very, very few” foreign donors to political parties so the bill was like “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.

He said the requirement to get statutory declarations from donors was “unwarranted”.

“I don’t think the bill will even be presented to parliament in its current form, there have been too many objections … There’s a fair chance the government will amend it itself.”

Asked if the government would amend the bill, Cormann, the special minister of state, said “yes we may”, subject to the recommendations of the joint standing committee on electoral matters examining it.

“[The bill] is about making sure that all relevant political actors are subject to the same transparency, disclosure and reporting requirements and subject to the same ban on foreign political donations,” he said.

Cormann said only organisations that had spent more than $100,000 in political expenditure in any of the past four years, or $50,000 if that was more than 50% of their annual budget, would be captured by the requirements of the “political campaigner” category.

Opposition to the bill has been spearheaded by the charities sector and GetUp, which is concerned the associated entities changes may force it to declare it is associated with the Greens and Labor.

Labor supports a ban on foreign donations but the deputy chairman of the committee examining the bill, Andrew Giles, has warned the push to redefine associated entities will make it harder to win bipartisan support.

The party’s charities spokesman, Andrew Leigh, said after consultations with charities it is clear the bill “would require more time and money from charities which are already struggling to balance paperwork with their important advocacy work”.

The Greens support the foreign donation ban in principle but have announced they will oppose the bill in its current form because it disadvantages community groups.



The Greens are also concerned the bill does not automatically ban foreign residents from making donations, it merely gives the minister a power to do so, which could result in a last-minute rush of donations.

Cormann said that “any non-citizen, including permanent residents, will be banned from making political donations”.

“Should the bill be enacted, I will make any necessary regulations to give full effect to the government’s commitment to ban foreign political donations,” he said.