Inquiry into the feasibility of introducing expenditure caps for Queensland local government elections Report No. 47, 56th Parliament Economics and Governance Committee September 2020 Economics and Governance Committee Chair Mr Linus Power MP, Member for Logan Deputy Chair Mr Ray Stevens MP, Member for Mermaid Beach Members Ms Nikki Boyd MP, Member for Pine Rivers1 Mr Lance McCallum MP, Member for Bundamba2 Mr Sam O’Connor MP, Member for Bonney Mr Dan Purdie MP, Member for Ninderry3 Ms Kim Richards MP, Member for Redlands Mr Trevor Watts MP, Member for Toowoomba North4 Committee Secretariat Telephone +61 7 3553 6637 Fax +61 7 3553 6699 Email
[email protected] Technical Scrutiny +61 7 3553 6601 Secretariat Committee webpage www.parliament.qld.gov.au/egc Acknowledgements The committee acknowledges the assistance provided by the Queensland Parliamentary Library and Research Service. 1 Ms Nikki Boyd MP, Member for Pine Rivers, until 19 May 2020 2 Mr Lance McCallum MP, Member for Bundamba, from 19 May 2020 3 Mr Daniel Purdie MP, Member for Ninderry, until 19 May 2020 4 Mr Trevor Watts MP, Member for Toowoomba North, from 19 May 2020 Inquiry into the feasibility of introducing expenditure caps for Queensland local government elections Contents Abbreviations iii Chair’s foreword v Recommendations vi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Role of the committee 1 1.2 Inquiry referral 1 1.3 Inquiry process 2 1.4 Committee recommendations 2 2 Background 4 2.1 Operation Belcarra Report 5 2.2 Recent developments in Queensland 7 2.3 Stakeholder support 7 3 A