Most candidates seeking election on 23 March don’t care about political donations laws, a Tasmanian Constitution Society survey of candidates has found.

Only 34 of the record 167 candidates responded to the survey. But all those who responded supported: reducing the donation reporting limit from $5000 to $1000; making donations of more than $1000 public within 24 hours; extending the ban on foreign entities from donating to the gambling, liquor and tobacco industries, and a limit on campaign spending for House of Assembly candidates of $30,000 for individuals and $750,000 for parties.

Only two respondents – independent Mark Brown and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party – did not support a ban on donations from foreign donors to include property developers, corporations, the liquor, gambling and tobacco industries.

No Labor or Liberal party candidate responded to the four-question survey. Eight of the 12 Jacqui Lambie Network candidates responded, 15 of the 29 independents and seven of the 35 Greens.

It seems candidates seeking to represent voters, don’t care where the money comes from to finance campaigns. The results are disappointing because voters have the right to know the source of individual and party funds.

Stronger laws – scuttled by the Labor party last year – would’ve provided greater accountability and increased voters’ much-needed confidence in the system. The legislation that was passed was weak and because there wasn’t time to set up the administration, the current federal laws will continue to apply which means we won’t know until February next year who donated what to whom.

About the survey

All candidates were emailed on Monday 4 March a link to the survey that closed at 5pm on Thursday 7 March. Along with their name and electorate, the questions were:

• Will you support new political donations laws to reduce the limit before a donation has to be publicly declared from $5000 to $1000 to bring Tasmania in line with Victoria and NSW, ACT and Queensland?

• Will you support new political donations laws to require donations of more than $1000 to be made public within 24 hours of being made during an election campaign and within seven days at other times?

• Will you support new political donations laws to extend banned entities from foreign donors to include property developers, corporations, the liquor, gambling and tobacco industries?

• Will you support new political donations laws to limit House of Assembly candidates’ campaign expenditure to $30,000 for individual candidates and $750,000 for parties recommended by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Social Change?

Who responded and what they said.