Liberals accuse Boothby candidate Jo Dyer of GoFundMe hypocrisy after Christian Porter scandal

The battle for SA’s most marginal seat has ramped up with a high-profile Boothby candidate facing hypocrisy claims over criticisms of a blind trust for Christian Porter.

The battle for South Australia’s most marginal seat has ramped up, with newly declared independent candidate for Boothby Jo Dyer forced to defend herself against accusations of hypocrisy for accepting anonymous donations through a crowd-funding website.

It comes after Ms Dyer previously criticised former federal Attorney-General Christian Porter for accepting anonymous donations to fund a defamation fight against the ABC.

Ms Dyer, who recently said receipt of anonymous donations showed an “astonishing dereliction of ethics and accountability”, started a GoFundMe campaign that attracted contributions from about 80 anonymous donors within two days of its launch.

But the outgoing Adelaide Writers’ Week director said she knew the identity of the contributors and has committed to publishing them before next year’s federal election.

High-profile independent candidate Jo Dyer will stand for marginal election battleground of Boothby. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Ms Dyer was the leading advocate for an Adelaide woman who alleged she was raped by Mr Porter in the 1980s when they were both teenagers.

Mr Porter, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, resigned from the ministry and announced he would quit politics at the election after he faced criticism, including from Ms Dyer, for funding his defamation fight against the ABC through what he described as a “blind trust”. It is estimated he received up to $1m in anonymous donations.

“That Christian Porter asserts that accepting anonymous cash via a carefully structured trust is in any way acceptable demonstrates yet again the astonishing dereliction of ethics and accountability under this government,” Ms Dyer tweeted in September.

That Christian Porter asserts that accepting anonymous cash via a carefully structured trust is in any way acceptable demonstrates yet again the astonishing dereliction of ethics and accountability under this Government. #auspol

— Jo Dyer - an independent voice for Boothby (@instanterudite) September 15, 2021

Senior Liberals have now accused her of hypocrisy.

“Jo Dyer pretends to be an independent despite having sought Labor preselection and won’t even hold herself to the same standard that she attacks others for,” one Liberal told the Advertiser.

Senator Simon Birmingham publicly savaged Ms Dyer’s campaign, tweeting on Tuesday she was “Labor to the core”.

But Ms Dyer denied any collusion, saying a 1999 tilt at Labor preselection was on the public record and she had not been a member since 2000 when she left the party “disillusioned at its direction”.

“I have not been a member of any party since, nor would I join one,” she said.

Ms Dyer said she had not received funding from entrepreneur Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 organisation, but would not rule out accepting “some sort of support from them” in future.

She has been endorsed by the grassroots “Voices of” campaign, which has targeted other marginal Liberal seats across Australia, but said she had not received any money from the group.

“To reassure my anonymous critics: I am a supporter of full disclosure of all campaign donations and am happy to hold myself to that standard,” she said.

“In the same spirit, I look forward to the Liberal Party disclosing the individual donors to their organisation, including the members of their Australian Business Network and the contributors to their various fundraising vehicles.”

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter. Picture: Stefan Gosatti

As of Tuesday night, Ms Dyer’s online fundraiser had attracted more than $34,000 in donations from nearly 300 donors. The largest, of $5000, was from a donor named on the site as Bill Vickers.

Ms Dyer said GoFundMe had its own identity verification processes and she could “absolutely commit” to releasing the identity of donors before the election.

“I’ve got nothing to hide,” she said.

Paul Williams, associate professor of politics and journalism at Griffith University, said there were issues around verifying a GoFundMe donor’s identity, but that only becomes a problem if donations to political campaigns are above the “very generous” $14,500 disclosure threshold.

“The Liberals are technically correct – there is a case to be made about disclosure,” he said.

“But in reality, that’s not how GoFundMe works. GoFundMe, traditionally, whether it’s funding a kids’ soccer tour or funding a political campaign, generally attracts mum and dad and local investors with $5, $10, $20.”

A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said there were no laws prohibiting the use of crowd-funding platforms to collect political donations.

“Electoral laws do not limit the method or channel of campaign fundraising but rather seek to ensure such activities are publicly disclosed,” he said.

He said the only exception to the disclosure rules applied to foreign donations, which are banned.