In the last decade, the Liberal and National Parties have taken over $160 million from corporations.
This money has come from some of our most powerful businesses, like Westpac and Woodside, and our most influential industries, like property developers, professional lobbyists and the coal and gas industry.
These are the industries seeking to influence the policy decisions of the Liberal and National parties:
Fossil Fuel Industry
$ 546,500Developers and Property Industry
$ 403,778Banking and Finance Industry
$ 2,997,701Pharmaceutical Corporations
$ 348,000Gambling - Tobacco - Alcohol
$ 349,410Defence Industry
$ 82,500Corporate $$ from the last decade:
| html_name_icon | Value | value_M |
|---|---|---|
| Banking and Finance Industry | 93,089,327 | 93.1 |
| Developers and Property Industry | 35,783,966 | 35.8 |
| Energy and Resource Companies | 25,936,604 | 25.9 |
| Consultancies and Law Firms | 22,408,688 | 22.4 |
| Gambling - Tobacco - Alcohol | 20,531,601 | 20.5 |
| Pharma & Private Health Industry | 20,361,168 | 20.4 |
| Manufacturing and Heavy Industry | 16,511,641 | 16.5 |
| html_name_icon | Value | value_M |
|---|---|---|
| Services & Retail Sector | 15,479,016 | 15.5 |
| Media and Communications | 14,577,239 | 14.6 |
| Food and Agriculture | 9,890,086 | 9.9 |
| Lobbying Firms | 8,627,423 | 8.6 |
| Education | 2,263,828 | 2.3 |
| Defence & Weapons Industry | 2,160,658 | 2.2 |
| Uncategorised Company | 1,833,722 | 1.8 |
Cumulative totals to Coalition between FY2013–FY2023 (Liberal and National Parties, state and federal)
And then there’s the dark money…
As much as 55% of donations to political parties are not disclosed. In FY22, the source of around $119 million remains hidden.
Without reforms to require disclosure of this ‘dark money’, we don’t know who’s paying the big parties’ bills.
Loopholes in our donations laws allow the major parties to claim money received as “other receipts”, because it isn’t a ‘gift’, it is a contractual exchange such as a $10,000 a head ‘business lunch’ with lobbyists and industry.
Major parties employ sneaky tactics to hide the source of donations – like using a political front group (like Labor’s ‘1973 Foundation’) to host fundraising events. The corporate donor pays the front group and the front group then pays the political party to “wash the donations” and hide the influential donor.
Our lax donation laws allow donors to split donations between state and federal entities below the $14,500 donation cap.
That means over $100,000 can be donated each year without disclosure. If it’s below the disclosure limit, then the AEC has no legal power to investigate it.