Temporary residents need permanent political rights

As the number of temporary residents in Australia increases the question of their rights grows in importance. The recent New South Wales government move to stop non-citizens from donating money to political parties, has Andrew Norton questioning why we need such a law.

Over the last 15 years, Australia has acquired a large population of temporary but long-term migrants. As of September 2011, it included about 360,000 international students and 310,000 others, mostly on various work visas. A new temporary residence work right for former international students will add to the total in coming years. On an annual basis, long-term but temporary arrivals significantly outnumber migrants with permanent residence rights.

As with other countries hosting significant 'guest' populations, we now face decisions about their rights and entitlements. What access should they have to government supplied or subsidised services, which are often restricted to permanent residents or citizens? And what political rights should temporary residents have in putting their concerns forward?

Until recently, temporary residents had every political right short of voting and standing for office. But 2010 changes to campaign finance law have limited those rights in NSW, with proposed additional reforms threatening to further complicate and diminish the political capacities of non-citizens.

In NSW, non-citizens are now prohibited from donating money to political parties and, in some circumstances, to other political organisations. For example, if an international student organisation became active in a NSW election, say over their long-running campaign for public transport concessions, gifts from non-citizen supporters would break the law.

A bill currently before the NSW parliament would ban all political donations from organisations. While this bill has serious implications for general political activity in NSW, it closes off one of the few financing options left to groups representing non-citizens. For example, if the bill passes a university could not give money to an international student organisation if it was to be used to influence voting in NSW.

Federally, Labor plans to ban foreign-sourced political donations. This would restrict financial support for political campaigns from parents or other overseas relatives and friends of international students, or other temporary migrants. The Coalition stalled this proposed ban for years, but with Green Senate support it will probably now pass.

Those supporting these laws say that “foreign” influence on Australian politics needs to be limited. But the proposition that only Australian citizens can have a worthwhile influence on Australian policy and politics is an absurd conceit. Our basic political ideas are imports adapted to local circumstances, and almost every major issue in Australian politics has parallels in other countries. People with extensive experience of more than one country—our long-term but temporary migrants—may well have useful ideas about how Australia could do things differently. And with global issues such as climate change affecting people in many countries, people who have never lived in Australia have a stake in Australian politics.

I am yet to see any argument that non-citizens organising politically supported by donations is any kind of problem, let alone one that requires a draconian solution such as the NSW law. If we allow people to live in Australia, then surely we should not obstruct their political organisations. We don’t have to grant their requests—despite the efforts of international students over the years, NSW has not granted them public transport concessions—but in a liberal democracy we should not stop them from asking.

Andrew Norton is the higher education program director at the Grattan Institute. His report on the state of Australian higher education was published on 30 January. He has also published on campaign finance law. His submission to the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the latest campaign finance reform is here.