Donations and Loans not from Financial Institutions

1. The Australian Greensthe Australian Greens (The Greens) Incorporated, incorporated under the *Associations Incorporation Act 1991* (ACT) with association number A02626 - Victoria (AGVAustralian Greens Victoria), as a party committed to enhancing Australia’s democratic process, will pursue the model of publicly funded elections at all levels of government. Publicly funded elections would promote more equitable access and reduce the risk of corruption associated with donations.

2. AGVAustralian Greens Victoria will accept donations, including gifts-in-kind as defined by the Australian Electoral Commission, using transparent practices.

3. Gifts in-kind will be treated as any other donation to the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria (for further details please see the Treasurer’s Handbook).

4. AGVAustralian Greens Victoria may reject any donation or refund any donation at any time

5. AGVAustralian Greens Victoria will ensure that where any donor’s one-off or cumulative donations to AGVAustralian Greens Victoria totals $1,000 or more within a financial yearThe financial year of the Party is the year ending on 30 June. their donations are subject to ethical review.

6. Any party member may request that the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria conduct an ethical review of any donation.

7. At times AGVAustralian Greens Victoria may also seek to finance its expenditure through loans that are not provided by financial institutions. These loans will be subject to ethical review where either:

   1. the value of the loan is $10,000 or more; or

   2. the loan agreement has conditions under which the loan could convert into a donation and the value of the loan is $1,000 or more.

8. Ethical review of donations and non-commercial loans will be undertaken by AGVAustralian Greens Victoria State Council (or State Executive or State Quick Decision Making Group depending on amount and urgency) and will:

   1. seek to ensure that the values and aspirations of all donors and lenders are not inconsistent with those encapsulated in the goals, policies and the CharterThe Charter of The Greens which is appended to the National Constitution of the Australian Greensthe Australian Greens (The Greens) Incorporated, incorporated under the *Associations Incorporation Act 1991* (ACT) with association number A02626 Victoria;

   2. accept donations and loans only for supporting the aims of the Partythe incorporated association referred to in clause 40(1);

   3. refuse any donation or loan if any conditions are imposed by the donor or lender;

   4. refuse any donation or loan if it gives rise to or is likely to give rise to a conflict of interest as defined below.

9. The person verifying that the requirements of clause 8 have been met:

   1. will not be associated with the donor in any way as far as practicable (i.e. the verifying person should not be a relative of the donor, co-habituating with, etc.)

   2. will not be a candidates for election, nor that person's campaign manager with regard to donations to their own or any other campaign being conducted at the same time.

   3. should contact the donor to confirm that the requirements are met. Further a full audit trail of the process should be kept (i.e. emails/correspondence confirming that the requirements have been met).

10. Further, AGVAustralian Greens Victoria will:

    1. ensure that any donations solicited or accepted on behalf of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria by members or supporters of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria are used for AGVAustralian Greens Victoria endorsed activities and not for the personal use of the member or supporter;

    2. maintain transparency in donor identity by reporting within 3 months of the end of each financial yearThe financial year of the Party is the year ending on 30 June. all donors and the cumulative total of their donations to AGVAustralian Greens Victoria over the previous financial yearThe financial year of the Party is the year ending on 30 June. where those cumulative totals amount to $1,000 or more;

    3. maintaining transparency in donor identity by including in the party's Annual Returns to the Australian Electoral Commission details of all donations which cumulatively total more than $1,000 for the financial yearThe financial year of the Party is the year ending on 30 June.”; and

    4. ensure that any donations or loans received that are subsequently rejected as a result of this bylaw are returned to the donor or lender at the earliest opportunity;

    5. report all donations to local, state and federal electoral authorities as required by laws applicable and current at the time of the donation;

    6. advise potential and/or intending donors of disclosure requirements of laws referred to in 8(e) above.

11. The acceptance of any donation by AGVAustralian Greens Victoria does not imply endorsement of the activities, undertakings or processes of the donor.

12. It is the responsibility of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria State Treasurer to monitor all donations and loans received or offered to AGVAustralian Greens Victoria and ensure all donations and loans which are subject to review, or may be subject to rejection under this bylaw are promptly referred for review.

13. To support the application of this bylaw:

    1. donations may only be directed to the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria state party, regional councils, branches or electoral campaigns. Donations may be directed to campaigns for a specific election or electorate. Donations may not be directed to individual members (including candidates and elected representatives);

    2. any donation of $1,000 or more, or any donation which there is reason to think may bring the total donation for a particular donor to $1,000 or more in a financial yearThe financial year of the Party is the year ending on 30 June., shall be referred to the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria State Treasurer for review prior to the donation being accepted;

    3. the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria website and other relevant documentation shall provide donors with information on statutory disclosure requirements and the disclosure principles embodied in this by-law;

    4. an official AGVAustralian Greens Victoria receipt will be issued and the name and address of the donor recorded for all donations unless the donor requests the donation be anonymous. Any donation of $50 or more must have an official AGVAustralian Greens Victoria receipt issued and the name and address of the donor recorded. Anonymous donations of $50 or more cannot be accepted. This is to facilitate monitoring cumulative individual donations against the $1,000 disclosure limit;

    5. Where the donor of a donation in excess of $50 cannot be identified within 3 months of the donation, the money will be moved to a trust account where it may be held for a period of up to 6 months to facilitate a further attempt to identify the donor. If after this time the donor cannot be identified the money will be forwarded on to a charity of FAICFinance, Administration and Infrastructure Committee’s choice. These transactions may be authorised by the Senior Most Staff member or their delegate;

    6. any donations accepted on behalf of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria shall be deposited into an AGVAustralian Greens Victoria bank account or petty cash fund within 7 days;

    7. all donations received by branches, regional councils or election campaign committees shall be reported to the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria Finance Officer quarterly. This report shall include an itemized list of donations including the name and address of each non-anonymous donor.

Definitions

Donations:

(from www.aec.gov.au “Funding and Disclosure Handbook for Donors and Third Parties”)

A disposition of property or provision of a service for which no payment, or an inadequate payment, is received. The term includes cash and non-cash (gift-in-kind) transactions, but does not include commercial transactions or volunteer labour.

(NBNationBuilder. This is a summary and the full AECAustralian Electoral Commission definition should be consulted.)

Conflict of Interest:

AGVAustralian Greens Victoria adopts the OECD definition of conflict of interest which is:

A ‘conflict of interest’ involves a conflict between the public duty and the private interests of a public official, in which the public official has private interests which could improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities.

Public duty. It is the duty of members of The Greens to uphold the Greens CharterThe Charter of The Greens which is appended to the National Constitution and promote our policies. It is the public duty of elected representatives and other officials of The Greens to represent their constituents impartially and actthe Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 without undue influence in the community interest.

Private interests. Candidates, elected representatives and other officials of The Greens are the beneficiaries of political donations directly or to the Partythe incorporated association referred to in clause 40(1) and hence have a private interest in those donations. They could be, or could be reasonably perceived to be, influenced by donations (and a desire to maintain them) in the conduct of their public duties. In general larger donations have a greater potential to give rise to the perception of a conflict of interest.

Conflict. Conflict arises where decisions are actually, potentially or perceived to be made against the public interest and/or duty as a result of private interests. In addition a conflict of interest exists if the donor is likely to receive a material benefit from a reasonably foreseeable decision that could be made by the Partythe incorporated association referred to in clause 40(1) or an elected Green, unless such benefit is likely to occur as a result of the donor being a member of such a broad class of beneficiary that their individual benefit is not readily identifiable or known or distinguishable from other members of that class.

A conflict of interest also still exists where a donation is received from a third party or associated entity related to the individual or entity where the conflict of interest originates.

Modification History

Action	Body	Date
Approved	State Executive	2007-05-10
Amended	State Executive	2009-05-28
Amended	State Council	2013-05-04
Amended	State Executive	2013-06-20
Amended	State Executive	2013-07-14
Amended	State Council	2015-07-25