Former LNP president Gary Spence has argued a Queensland ban on donations from property developers should be overruled because it flies in the face of an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.
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The Palaszczuk Labor government passed laws last year - backdated until before the 2017 Queensland election - banning property developers from donating money to state and local government politicians and parties.
Mr Spence, also the chairman of engineering consultancy PeakUrban, launched a challenge of the laws in the High Court in mid-2018 and in December resigned his position as LNP president.
He argued the laws prevented him from legally playing an active role in the leadership of the party ahead of the federal election due to his role in the property development industry.
Vice-president David Hutchinson was chosen as the acting president of the LNP.
In a submission to the High Court, Mr Spence argued the laws were invalid because they were inconsistent with the implied constitutional freedom of communication on government and political matters.
"(It) restricts the funds available to political parties and candidates to meet the costs of political communication," he said.
"Campaigning is an essential part of political communication. A restriction on the availability of funds will substantially diminish the extent of political communication."
Mr Spence said the laws would stop people from forming a party that promoted the interests of political developers.
"It is entirely legitimate and well-precedented in our constitutional system of government for a group/ party or candidate to primarily advocate for one particular issue or interest (eg protecting the environment; banning poker machines; promoting shooting and fishing)," he said in his submission.
"Yet any such candidate, group or party could not engage in fundraising insofar as the individuals concerned were prohibited donors themselves, nor could they seek or receive funds from the very types of person whose interests they were seeking to promote, and who would naturally constitute their support base."
Mr Spence said there was nothing to show that donations to political parties, MPs or candidates for election to the state government had any effect on the integrity of the political process.
After an investigation, the Crime and Corruption Commission recommended property developer donations be banned for councils but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that would be extended to state politics.
"I will not make rules for local councils that I am not prepared to follow myself," she said in October 2017.
Mr Spence said state governments made important decisions in the areas of approving liquor and casino licences, grants of mining leases, funding grants to the arts and directions to the racing industry - with those industries not banned from donating - while more than 96 per cent of planning decisions in Queensland were made by councils.
He also said the notion of a "property developer" captured many people who had little connection to property development, such as any beneficiary of a discretionary trust where the trustee company was a property developer.
"Thus potentially capturing numerous relatives of, say, a home builder who runs their business through a family trust," he said.
Mr Spence said the laws should be thrown out because they did not differentiate between donations for the election of state MPs and councillors, with those for federal MPs, which intruded on federal powers.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland's guidelines reveal politicians can accept tea and biscuits from property developers but hospitality and tickets to sporting matches worth more than $200 are not allowed.
The case is due for a hearing of the full High Court in Canberra in March.
