Hi All,

In the Dark Money report I argue disclosure is entirely optional because payments as large as $20million can be concealed through donation splitting. Ie breaking large amounts into small payments that individually come in  below the disclosure threshold.

This claim is often made about payments of $100,000. This based on making payments to separate branches. However the reality is worse. Payments made on separate days do not have to be aggregated. So you can pay $10,000 a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year to eight branches and pay $20m without having to disclose.

My evidence that this is permissable is from AEC guidelines to political parties on how to complete their returns

. http://www.aec.gov.au/parties_and_representatives/financial_disclosure/guides/political-parties/information.htm#part2

Check it out for yourself! They even give an example.