The storm in a teacup about political donations comes from another era, and it’s time to move on.
People over the age of 60 will remember that era.
Things lost in the post, cheques, facsimile machines, paper invoices, and accounts receivable people entering numbers into spreadsheets were all reconciled for the end of the month (if things were going well).
Creditors would then get more bits of paper saying they had a month to hand over the readies.
Somewhere in the milieu there was a bit of wiggle room for everyone.
In 2024, the above will seem old hat to anyone under 50. People today pay for their groceries with their phones, get Uber hither and thither. Food is delivered, and you can keep track of how far some poor bastard has pedalled. There are websites offering up to the minute data on just who is charging what for energy, fuel, any given grocery item, the conditions at the nearest stoplights, and who is reading Whatsapp messages while driving on the road. Family lawyers routinely sift through home duties and superannuation balances. Services Australia staff can tell you which houses are peopled by separated inhabitants claiming single rates of social support and identify which bedrooms they sleep in.
Three years after we were QR coding into and out of buildings, your accountant, your bank, and any government agency feeding into your balance knows just what you spend and when, as well as how much you got paid yesterday and the nice little side earners you don’t declare to anyone. Google knows about the chick you write to in Thailand, Panama, or Ukraine and the tall, dark, handsome stranger your significant other wants to rub faces with in Spain or Goa. Google also knows that they are all 24 years old in the Philippines or Guyana, with 25 email accounts, 50 paypal and WhatsApp accounts, and photographs of thousands of young men and women to send to counterparts at leisure when requesting donations or support.
And yet, we don’t know who is donating to our politics?
Your banks, your telcos, and every app on your mobile know every last detail of what you spend. When and what you get, as well as how many steps you walk, your calorific intake, your blood sugar levels, your blood pressure and the lipids count. If your pulse goes up suddenly due to some mid-afternoon hoppo bumpo you can be pretty sure google maps is reporting to the CIA and the Kremlin along with any photos on any device in the room, and a readout on duration, excitement levels and any form of dysfunction. Insurance companies can lay odds on why someone in your house is Googling Human Papilloma Virus, or warts.
Against this backdrop, the very notion that Australian politicians are haggling over the visibility of political donations is not just bull. It is so out of date that it belongs to the Romans.
All donations from any entity should be trackable in real-time in the public domain – individual, organisational or corporate. Where any donations are made using cash, they should be accompanied by ID – the same as we all need to present for phones, utilities, traffic infractions and any form of government service – or they should be made via apps that verify users. Why would we be encouraging anyone to do anything untrackable – let alone funding our political system – in an age when all of us doing all sorts of ordinary everyday things – like signing kids up for classes or sporting teams – are essentially forced to verify who we are?
All donations must be disclosed, verified and published in an instantly accessible database for all.