Warning on Olympic corruption risk after developer donation ban overturned

Australian legal and integrity figures have warned that Queensland has raised corruption risks heading into the 2032 Games, with the government ignoring its own watchdog’s advice to unpick a ban on developer donations and quadruple the donation cap.

This masthead has spoken to three experts who raised concern about the move, including a former senior Queensland judge, the national arm of a global anti-corruption group, and the country’s first anti-corruption commissioner.

And famed Queensland corruption-buster Tony Fitzgerald, who now only sparingly adds to public debate on such matters, said he declined to weigh in only because “a whole new generation has to deal with these problems now”.

The ban on state political donations by developers, recommended at a council level by the corruption watchdog in 2016, was passed in controversial circumstances by the former Labor government.

While the 2017 ban was challenged by the LNP, the High Court ultimately ruled the laws were valid after earlier upholding a similar ban in NSW.

Under this week’s changes, the cap on donations to a party and its candidates by a single donor between elections will rise from $12,000 to $48,000.

Margaret White AO, a former Queensland Supreme and Appeals Court judge now on the board of the Centre for Public Integrity, described the changes as “a real risk to the integrity of our processes”.

The move was a “backward step”, White said, and ignoring the Crime and Corruption Commission’s warnings and suggestions for more robust developer donation disclosure was “very troubling”.

White also criticised the lack of evidence put forward for the LNP’s position, particularly in light of the High Court rulings that allowed bans on developer donations due to their risk. She said the ban was overturned in a rushed manner, seemingly without “really wanting to have input from the voters” or the CCC.

Despite LNP attempts to draw equivalence between its developer donations and union money in Labor, the latter was transparent by comparison and “one can’t really know the extent to which these donations will influence [planning] decision-making”, she said.

“I think it just really is a case of, ‘We’re changing it because we can, and we would like to have donations from property developers, and we would like to have them so that the cap is quadrupled.’ I don’t know that it can be dressed up in any cleaner linen than that,” she said.

“In a representative democracy, which we have, it is not a level playing field where large sums of money can [purchase] access. It’s just not, and it damages our perception of how public power will be exercised.”

Australia’s first anti-corruption boss, the inaugural NSW ICAC commissioner Ian Temby, said “the risk of corrupt practices is greatly increased whenever there are large contracts being let by government, particularly under pressure of time.”

“And it is essential that the public and the politicians that serve them should be aware of those risks,” said Temby, whose term with ICAC ended some six years out from the last Games to be held in Australia – Sydney 2000.

“This bill will increase public confidence in Queensland electoral processes.”

Temby said governments were under no obligation to follow their anti-corruption body recommendations, but if voters did not approve of law changes then they “have the right to express their displeasure at the ballot box”.

Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said while Queensland once led the nation on political finance laws by reducing the “corrupting influence of big money in politics”, this week’s changes reverse that.

“The construction and infrastructure sectors are particularly prone to corruption risks as are major events like the Olympics. Together, these two factors make a perfect storm for undue influence and cash for access in Queensland,” Moore said in an emailed response to questions.

Responding to the comments, and questions from this masthead, Frecklington said only: “Queenslanders backed our stance to level the playing field for political donations after they saw through Labor’s disgraceful scare campaigns which were bankrolled by the violent and misogynistic CFMEU.”

Comment has been sought from justice, integrity and community safety committee chair Marty Hunt, and the CCC.

Introduced in December, stakeholders had just one month to prepare submissions to the committee bill scrutiny process before a January 2 deadline. The government-controlled parliamentary body held only one public hearing.

The CCC was willing to appear at any such hearing, but was said by the committee to have been unable to send a representative on the day.

In its written submission, the CCC warned that with the looming 2032 Games, developer donations could “exacerbate real and/or perceived risks of undue or improper influence” and again effectively sanction some non-election political donations at a council level.

It suggested all developer donations be disclosed publicly, regardless of the value – a suggestion not acknowledged in the committee’s Friday report that recommended the bill pass unchanged.

Nor was it acknowledged by Frecklington in her contributions to debate as the bill passed parliament on Tuesday’s first sitting day for 2026.

Instead, she described concerns about the removal of the ban as “unfounded” because donation caps would remain and “ensure a level playing field between donors”.

“In addition, on the same basis as other donors, permitted gifts and loans from property developers and related industry bodies will be transparently disclosed, as for all others,” she said.

Frecklington, citing Property Council feedback, said the “demonisation of the property sector” by Labor had dampened confidence in the industry and, in turn, the supply of projects, while locking “simple mum-and-dad property investors” out of the electoral process.

In her speech to parliament, shadow attorney-general Meaghan Scanlon said the bill “claims to restore fairness but it actually weakens integrity”. Hunt interjected, describing the ban – as it has been long labelled by the LNP – as a “gerrymander”.

The CCC’s parliamentary oversight committee is scheduled to hold regular a public meeting with commissioner Bruce Barbour on Tuesday.

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