One Nation asks donors at $3,000-a-head Sydney fundraiser to accept ‘non-disclosure agreement’

Transparency experts raise concerns about plans to use NDA to gag attendees at event featuring Pauline Hanson in lead-up to NSW election

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

One Nation is attempting to gag donors from ever revealing details of discussions at an invite-only, cocktail-dress fundraiser with the party’s senior leadership team, in a move described as a “worrying precedent” for democracy.

Invitations to the “very special evening” at an undisclosed central Sydney venue next Thursday show donors will be charged $3,000 for a “private and very discrete” four-hour event.

Donors have been told they’ll meeting with Pauline Hanson; One Nation’s national director, James Ashby; federal MP Barnaby Joyce; the federal party’s chief of staff, Chris Taylor; and its New South Wales leader, Mike Newman.

But unlike at other One Nation fundraisers – including a $2,000 invite-only event in Melbourne in September – this time donors have been asked to abide by a “non-disclosure agreement” preventing them from disclosing the identities of any attendees. They are also stopped from sharing the nature of any discussions at the event, which is reportedly set to feature a “cocktail and canapé service throughout the evening as the sun sets” and a live auction.

“Do not disclose information about what occurs at the event, including conversations, activities, photographs, video or other details obtained through attending,” says the agreement, contained in an invitation seen by Guardian Australia.

“Do not provide information, photographs, recordings or comments about the event to journalists, media organisations, bloggers or other publishers.”

The NDA states that these obligations “continue after the event has concluded”.

These type of fundraising dinners are common and frequently organised by Labor and Liberal parties. But senior sources from both major parties involved in running such events say the use of non-disclosure agreements is unprecedented.

Transparency International Australia’s chief executive, Clancy Moore, has been a long-term critic of closed-door fundraising dinners and believes they offer “cash for access”. He said the use of non-disclosure agreements was a worrying new step.

“Charging guests for a political fundraiser and requiring them to keep quiet about it raises serious questions about transparency ahead of an important state election,” Moore said.

“Voters deserve to know whether any political commitments are being made behind closed doors to paying guests. A non-disclosure agreement should never be used to shield political fundraising from public scrutiny.”

Christian Slattery, a senior campaigner at the Australian Democracy Network, said Australians were “rightly suspicious of exclusive cash-for-access events”.

“Slapping an NDA on a political fundraiser sets a worrying precedent. Democracy thrives in the sunlight,” Slattery said.