CAMPAIGN FUNDS – AUSTRALIA

Dark money totalling $67.2m flowed to Labor, Coalition and Greens in 2023-24

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Original article by Dan Jervis-Bardy, Sarah Basford Canales
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 4-Feb-25

Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that Labor, the Coalition and the Greens declared a total of $156m in political donations for the last financial year. Labor and its state branches received $67.5m worth of political donations in 2023-24; the Coalition received $72.2m and the Greens received $17.1m. However, the four major political parties did not declare the source of a combined $67.2m worth of donations. These financial contributions were below the disclosure threshold of $16,300 which the federal government wants to reduce this to just $1,000. Rob Keldoulis was the biggest individual political donor in 2023-24, contributing $1.1m to the Climate 200 organisation personally and via his private investment company.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CLIMATE 200 PTY LTD

Yes campaign groups received millions more in donations than No side for Voice referendum

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Original article by Paul Sakkal
The Age – Page: Online : 3-Apr-24

Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that the ‘Yes’ campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament received about five times more funding than the ‘No’ campaign. Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition received a total of $47.4m in donations, while it spent $43.8m on advocating a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum. The separate Yes23 group, Uluru Dialogues, received about $10m in funding for its campaign. Meanwhile, the ‘No’ campaign received about $13m in funding, led by Australians for Unity. The AEC figures also show that the Paul Ramsay Foundation was the biggest individual donor, contributing $7m to the ‘Yes’ campaign.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, PAUL RAMSAY FOUNDATION

Independents move to ban mega donations in far-reaching political transparency overhaul

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Mar-24

Political donations of more than $1.5 million would be banned under the fair and transparent elections bill, which is being tabled by crossbench and independent MPs in both houses of federal parliament. The bill also calls for a ban on donations from socially harmful industries such as the fossil fuel sector and for ‘truth-in-political advertising’. It further calls for the donation disclosure threshold to be lowered to $1,000, but it does not support a recommendation from the electoral matters committee to cap spending on elections, due to concerns that this could effectively entrench the two major parties.

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Calls to ban political donations from Australia’s big four consultancies after PwC scandal

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Original article by Henry Belot
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 5-Jul-23

Analysis by the Centre for Public Integrity shows that the four consultancy firms have donated $4.3m to Labor and the Coalition over the last decade. The value of government contracts held by these firms has increased by 400 per cent over the same period. James Guthrie of Macquarie University says major political parties should not accept donations from the "big four" firms in the wake of PwC’s tax leaks scandal, particularly if they have previously received large payments for public contracts. Greens senator Barbara Pocock has also called for large consultancy firms to be banned from making political donations.

CORPORATES
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

United Australia Party’s $80m-plus war chest sparks call to limit election spending

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 23-Feb-22

The Centre for Public Integrity has outlined a range of proposed measures aimed at removing the influence of money in federal politics. Amongst other things, it has proposed capping donations to political parties, reducing the disclosure threshold for campaign donations to $1,000 and strengthening the Australian Electoral Commission’s powers to enforce donation laws. The Centre’s reform blueprint follows the United Australia Party’s recent revelation that its campaign budget for the upcoming federal election will exceed the $80m it spent on the 2019 poll.

CORPORATES
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY

Gas companies made almost $1m in donations to Labor and Liberals

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Original article by Royce Kurmelovs
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 2-Feb-22

Analysis of the Australian Electoral Commission’s political donation records show that fossil fuel producers and their lobby groups donated a combined $959,115 to the nation’s three largest political parties in 2020-21. The analysis by 350.org shows that the Liberal Party received $506,810 in total, ahead of Labor ($392,354) and the National Party ($59,991). Woodside Petroleum topped the list of donors, contributing a combined $232,250 to the coffers of the Liberal and Labor parties; it was followed by the Minerals Council of Australia, which donated $193,943 in total to the three political parties. The Greens do not accept donations from fossil fuel companies.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, 350.ORG

$65 million and counting, Clive Palmer labels Labor as sore losers on election spend

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Original article by Samantha Maiden
The New Daily – Page: Online : 21-Oct-19

It is expected that businessman Clive Palmer’s advertising expenditure on the last federal election will be somewhere around $65 million to $70 million when he lodges his final expenditure statement with the Australian Electoral Commission. Labor has apparently blamed Palmer’s extensive advertising as one of the factors behind its defeat, but Palmer has rejected its calls for a cap on advertising expenditure. He says Labor was happy for him to spend as much as he liked when it appeared that he would be giving them his preferences.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Always independent? Lapping it up with the Libs has Fairfax throwbacks foaming

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Sep-19

Nine Entertainment Company’s newspaper journalists have criticised the media group for hosting a fundraising event for the Liberal Party. They contend that the event has undermined the newspapers’ charters of editorial independence, arguing that ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’, ‘The Age’ and ‘The Australian Financial Review’ had been politically impartial under the ownership of Fairfax Media. Senior federal government ministers and business leaders were amongst those who attended the event, which raised $700,000 for the Liberal Party.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

GetUp’s $500k donation to change poll climate

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Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Dec-18

Activist group GetUp has received a $495,000 donation from the Sunrise Project, an Australia-based charity that campaigns for 100 per cent renewable energy. GetUp’s national director Paul Oosting says the donation will be used to finance its activities prior to the 2019 federal election, when it is expected to hand out how-to-vote cards for the Greens and Labor. Western Australian Liberal MP Ben Morton claims that the Sunrise Project is a "clearing house of political donations from others". Sunrise Project executive director John Hepburn denies that it is a clearing house for activist groups.

CORPORATES
GETUP LIMITED, SUNRISE PROJECT, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GREENPEACE, MINERAL COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Libs millions shy in campaign fighting funds

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 7 : 23-Oct-18

The Liberal Party is estimated to have spent about $1m on contesting the Wentworth by-election, while independent candidate Kerryn Phelps is believed to have had a campaign budget of about $300,000. Sources within the Liberal Party have indicated that it is still well short of the campaign funding target it requires for the 2019 federal election, following a number of other by-elections in recent months. Phelps holds a 1,626-vote lead over Liberal candidate Dave Sharma, with 51.11% of the vote on a two-party preferred basis at 6pm on Monday. Phelps has ruled out claiming victory until all votes are counted.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA