高等法院将就支出和捐款上限作出裁决，可能让大笔资金重返政坛堪培拉 —— 那些想把大笔资金赶出政坛的人，很少就该留多少钱、留谁的钱来竞选达成一致。
High Court will rule on spending and donations caps, potentially allowing big money back into politics CANBERRA — Those who want to take big money out of politics rarely agree on how much, and whose money, should be left to fight elections.
2025年2月，澳大利亚两大主要政党——工党和自由-国家党联盟——联手通过了竞选资金法，设定捐款上限、增加选举公共资助并限制选举支出。
In February 2025 Australia’s two major parties, Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition, combined to pass campaign finance laws capping donations, increasing public funding of elections and limiting electoral expenditure.
这项变革是在2022年大选中独立候选人取得突破性成功之后出台的，当时独立人士在悉尼、珀斯和墨尔本从自由党手中赢得了六个城市席位，该变革被怀疑是为了阻挠资金雄厚的挑战者通过从执政的工党手中夺取席位、进一步搅动澳大利亚政坛。
Coming after the breakthrough success of independents at the 2022 election, who won six city seats in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne from the Liberals, the change was viewed skeptically — as a means to block cashed-up insurgents further disrupting Australian politics by winning seats off the ruling Labor Party.
前独立议员佐伊·丹尼尔和雷克斯·帕特里克在澳大利亚高等法院提起诉讼，主张这些法律违反了澳大利亚宪法隐含的政治交流自由。
Former independent parliamentarians Zoe Daniel and Rex Patrick challenged the laws in the High Court of Australia, claiming they breached the freedom of political communication implied in the Australian Constitution.