Hiding in Plain Sight: 'Associated Entities' and Australian Democracy

关联实体(AE)是与政党有正式联系的组织。本项目旨在通过调查AEs对选举、法律和政党制度动态的影响，来研究AEs如何与澳大利亚民主互动。该项目预计将产生关于这近200个关键政治行为者影响的新知识，特别侧重于他们如何能够逃避对其活动的重大审查。预期结果包括一种新的企业类型，一种衡量其影响的新财务指数，以及改善其监管的建议。产生的主要好处包括：加强了竞选资金制度，提高了澳大利亚民主的透明度和完整性。

Associated Entities (AEs) are organisations that are formally linked to political parties. This project aims to examine how AEs interact with Australian democracy by investigating their impact on elections, the law, and party system dynamics. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the impact of these nearly 200 key political actors, with a particular focus on how they are able to elude significant scrutiny of their activities. Expected outcomes include a new typology of AEs, a new financial index to measure their impact, and proposals to improve their regulation. The key benefits generated include: a strengthened campaign finance regime, and enhanced transparency and integrity to Australia's democracy.