An independent lower house MP has criticised a move for Tasmanian political parties to receive public funding per vote, but the Greens say the measure helps more people stand for elections.
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Tasmania is the last state or territory to have such a scheme, with the Tasmanian proposal - included in the draft Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act - to provide parties $6 per first preference vote should they achieve at least 4 per cent of the vote.
Clark independent MHA Kristie Johnston disagreed with the proposal, and said the state should spend funds in other areas.
"The political parties used to, many years ago, raise their funds through grassroots campaigns with their membership base," she said.
"But we can see that over a number of years, the parties have become on the nose when it comes to members of the public, and their membership base has been dwindling.
"So instead of paying for their own costs themselves, they're now asking big corporations to pay which of course comes with strings, and now they're asking for the public to fund them."
Ms Johnston said she would self-fund her campaigns and donate any public funds she received as a result.
Greens Franklin MHA Rosalie Woodruff said that not everyone had the capacity to do this, and having publicly-funded campaigns provided greater equity.
"We believe that unless there's public funding for elections, and a cap on the amount that candidates can spend, we'll never increase the diversity in parliament or get a fair playing field in elections," she said.
"It's incredibly important that people have the ability to stand for parliament regardless of how deep their personal pockets are, their circumstances, and their social status."
Concern remains over $5000 disclosure threshold
The draft laws - open for comment until Tuesday - would make it mandatory for any donation above $5000 to be publicly disclosed.
This was despite the Integrity Commission recommending a $1000 disclosure limit in 2018, and an Electoral Act review from February recommending the disclosure limit be "informed by approaches in other jurisdictions".
The Tasmanian Government chose to follow South Australia's model of a $5000 limit, which was by far the weakest out of other states and territories.
In the most recent election campaign, the Liberal Party voluntarily disclosed donations above $5000. This resulted in two disclosures: a $50,000 donation from an unknown individual named "Richard Smith" and a $20,000 donation from Tag Management Services.
Ms Johnston wanted the limit lowered to $200, and Ms Woodruff urged "full disclosure".
"If we don't have full disclosure, then we do have a continuing situation where big corporations are funding political parties in secret to get outcomes that's not in the public interest," Ms Woodruff said.
The legislation will be introduced to Parliament last this year.
They were promised to be introduced prior to the last election.
The government maintained its proposal strikes "the right balance".
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