Sacked Turnbull government minister Stuart Robert has sparked calls for an overhaul of how political donations are disclosed after he was reportedly involved in "dodgy council donations".
Mr Robert secretly funnelled at least $70,000 into the campaigns of at least three independent candidates at the Gold Coast council election in March, The Australian reports.
The newspaper said Mr Robert was using money from his Liberal National Party fundraising arm, the Fadden Forum.
Mr Robert might have breached party rules by directing the money without the approval of his branch, it said.
An LNP spokesman declined to comment on the claim.
But Queensland Labor state secretary Evan Moorhead said Mr Robert's behaviour wouldn't be allowed to fly in his party, which prohibited money being spent on non-party candidates.
"Any other arrangements can lead to the public not being informed on political donations," Mr Moorhead said.
"Given Stuart Robert was sacked from the LNP ministry for inappropriately using resources for donors, it is flabbergasting that he would be involved in dodgy council donations."
Mr Robert, the member for the Gold Coast-based seat of Fadden, is already under investigation by the Australian Federal Police over a 2014 trip to China with a friend and LNP donor.
The Greens seized on the report to call for all candidates to disclose their main donations.
"It is simply ridiculous for candidates to present themselves to the electorate as being independent when they are secretly receiving tens of thousands of dollars from a political party, or their proxies," spokesman Andrew Bartlett said.
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