The spotlight will be on controversial foreign political donations when the electoral commission releases financial disclosures from the past financial year.

The AEC will reveal financial disclosures by political parties, candidates and donors during 2016/17 on Thursday morning.

Past disclosures have shown on average just less than two per cent of contributions are foreign donations.

But there is concern about the influence of such money.

Research by the Melbourne Law School found Chinese donors provided $12.6 million into the Australian political process between 2000 and 2016, or just under 80 per cent of all foreign donations.

It's expected there will be a spike in Chinese donations given it was an election period.

The federal government has drafted laws which will ban donations from foreign bank accounts, non-citizens and foreign entities to all types of political campaigning.

It says the changes will ensure only those with a meaningful connection to Australia can influence domestic politics and election campaigns.

But aid organisations and peak charity groups told a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday the legislation unfairly lumped them together with political organisations.

The not-for-profit groups warned of a chilling effect on charities, arguing the reforms would muzzle the voices of civil society.

© AAP 2018