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 fundedWant to get more charts in your inbox every fortnight? Sign up for The Crunch hereIn 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. Continue reading...