A tale of two Scott Farquhars: how one small change set back political transparency in Australia

Australia needs a balance between protecting the privacy of donors and preserving the transparency of how political parties are funded

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In the latest round of political donation disclosures there was a curious detail. It appeared as if Scott Farquhar, the billionaire co-founder of Atlassian, had donated $22,250 to the Queensland Greens in addition to giving $1.5m to support Climate 200.

Had the tech guru fallen prey to the Greens' legendary email marketing apparatus?

It is very uncommon for two donors in a single disclosure period to have the same name. In that very unusual occurrence, the unique client identifier is a method to distinguish them as separate individuals. The AEC is further considering such matters for the implementation of other Electoral reform amendments due to commence 1 July 2026.