Queensland's donation declaration threshold will only keep increasing under the LNP government, unless the federal government decides to make a change.
The government is coming under increasing pressure to be more transparent, after revelations by Fairfax Media that Energy Minister Mark McArdle hosted a party fundraiser in a power company's boardroom last year, which he did not have to declare in his ministerial diary.
Ministers release an edited version of their diaries each month but under the guidelines they do not have to include any party political business, which includes fundraisers.
The boardroom fundraiser was just one of a series of meetings Mr McArdle held with ERM Power executives and their lobbyists, SAS Group, which included Mr McArdle as the guest speaker at an SAS Group lunch in March this year, where issues such as the government's 30-year energy plan and potential assets were discussed.
Mr McArdle did not go into detail about the event in his diary, putting "boardroom lunch" as the purpose of his visit. SAS Group did not declare it on its contact register, held by the Integrity Commissioner, and told Fairfax Media this was because the lunch was not an ERM Power event.
It means that other than utilising right-to-information laws, fundraisers and events such as Mr McArdle's dealings with ERM Power, one of the most profitable private power companies in the state, will go undeclared. Mr McArdle managed to avoid questions from the media on Monday.
Donations given at these events and others will also be undeclared unless more than $12,800 is given in one hit by either an individual or company.
The $12,400 limit was upped to $12,800 in July because of the indexed nature of the declaration threshold.
The Howard government instigated the changes in 2006, lifting the declaration limit from $1500 to $10,000 indexed.
The Queensland government linked its limit to the federal limit earlier this year, citing legal advice.
Premier Campbell Newman has previously said he would like to see the federal limit lowered and said Queensland's limit would lower with it.
But the Federal Senate has found it hard to pass legislation that would force a lower limit on the declaration. Labor Senator John Faulkner failed to push through his proposed $1000 limit and a proposed $5000 disclosure limit with a subsidy for administrative costs also fell over before the last federal election.
A spokesman for the state government said it would continue to comply with all declaration laws.
Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said Labor would continue to declare all donations over $1000.
