David Pocock backs caps on political donations and electoral spending in boost to Labor plan

ACT senator says caps are the only way to stop wealthy entities from exerting undue influence' on elections

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Senator David Pocock has given in-principle support for caps on political donations and spending, giving a major boost to Labor's push to legislate the latter measure ahead of the 2025 election.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, Pocock said he would support the measures because a donation cap was the only solution to prevent wealthy entities from exerting undue influence on an election".

The cap should aggregate the amount donated by an individual to all candidates, parties and their associated entities;

Funding entities like Climate 200 should be able to collect individual donations to pass through" to candidates and parties and these secondary donations should be uncapped;

Candidates should have a higher cap to donate to their own campaign.