Australia to Limit Election Donations to $600,000, Mandate Real-Time Disclosures by 2028

Parties, candidates and donors will all face caps on how much they can spend on election campaigns, but taxpayers will give parties more money per vote.

Candidate placards for council elections at a pre polling booth at Kings Cross in Sydney, Australia on Sept. 12, 2024. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

The Australian federal government is hoping to end the “arms race” of election spending by introducing caps for parties, candidates, and donors.

Donations will be disclosed in almost real-time, and the threshold at which they must be reported will be significantly reduced.