The subject of corporate political donations is highly topical in several countries. The Australian Democrats have called for greater disclosure of donations made by companies to political parties, and for the introduction of a shareholder-approval rule where the donor is a public company. According to Democrat Senator Andrew Murray, ‘ever since the first political donation changed hands, money has been used to influence electoral outcomes and the process of government’.The problems potentially associated with political donations are probably as old as democracy itself. Where the institution of democracy is coupled with and gives its imprimatur to relatively free market economics, the market for votes takes on characteristics not unlike those of the markets for goods and services. Free commerce and free elections give rise to the possibility of political exploitation and manipulation. Where political power depends on commercial attractiveness, commercial interests can be advanced by contributing funds to those political interests which promise the best commercial returns. Consequently, allegations of wealthy citizens – corporate or otherwise – buying political influence are not uncommon where their capacity to donate to political parties (and the parties’ correspondent capacity to accept) is relatively unhindered.