Issues of electoral finance regulation and the role of money in politics have long been features of contemporary debate in scholarship and the public sphere. Yet, scholarship seeking to understand public attitudes towards the financing of political parties remains limited, and even scarcer in the Australian context.
This paper addresses that gap by examining how citizens perceive, evaluate, and respond to the ways political parties raise and spend money. Drawing on results from two surveys exploring attitudes towards party finance and associated entities, alongside a series of focus groups, we present our findings on how people feel about political parties, what they believe parties do and how they do it, where they think party finances originate, and how they regard electoral finance regulation. Across both surveys and focus groups, we map the contours of public knowledge, scepticism, and normative expectation surrounding money in Australian politics.
By foregrounding citizen perspectives on the movement and sources of party finance within Australia's party system, this study offers a deeper understanding of public attitudes towards electoral finance, informs proposals for improved regulation, and contributes to the pursuit of more transparent and accountable political parties.
