LAWS commencing on July 1 will prohibit property developers, close associates, or a person acting on their behalf of a political entity from making political donations in the ACT.
Amendments made to the Electoral Act 1992 by the Electoral Amendment Act 2020 were passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly in August.
ACT electoral commissioner Damian Cantwell said the prohibition also extends to the acceptance of such gifts by an ACT political entity.
A transitional provision banning such gifts has been in place since the end of the most recent ACT election, however, the related penalty for a breach of the law will increase from July 1.
“The amendments also make changes to the timing for the regular reporting of gifts totalling $1000 or more and introduce a penalty for the dissemination or authorisation of electoral advertising that contains a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent,” he said.
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![Teacher Vanessa Jones has been living in Higgins since 2001, and while she loves the area, she says she is “fed up” with the neglectful ACT government.
The Higgins shops have been completely abandoned, says Vanessa, preventing the opportunity for residents to have a community-centred space to socialise.
They only received bins nine months ago, she says, and requests for a water station and repairs to the bus station have gone unanswered.
“It’s very, very slow,” says Vanessa.
“I asked for the zebra crossing on Fullagar [Crescent] to be repainted, and we had to wait about six or nine months.
“That’s just such a long time… we pay a lot of rates.”
Vanessa says assistance from the government only seems to go to communities with time-rich and assertive communities, leaving places such as Higgins, where the majority of households have both adults working full-time and English may not be the first language of the family, at an automatic disadvantage.
“If you’ve got two people working, paying a mortgage, raising two or three kids, they don’t have the time,” says Vanessa.
Vanessa says the lack of attention quieter places such as Higgins is receiving is starting to look a lot like favouritism.
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