‘Money shouldn’t buy power’: WA businesses splashing thousands on political parties

A company that operates primary health facilities in Midland donated more than $30,000 to the West Australian Labor Party in the same period as it purchased two prized heritage strata lots next to its GP clinic from the state for $12 million.

At the same time, the first Australian medical products company given a Therapeutic Goods Administration green light to sell imported Chinese rapid-antigen tests donated $200,000 to the WA Liberals while the Coalition government was in power.

Two strata lots at the Midland railway workshops were sold to an affiliated company of Health Integra for $12 million.Credit: Development WA

These are two examples of donors to WA political parties that had significant dealings with governments in the past 18 months that a WAtoday analysis found littered throughout 2021-22 annual donations returns published by the WA Electoral Commission in December.

The examples have prompted renewed calls from the Centre for Public Integrity to speed up the introduction of donation law changes to improve transparency at both state and federal levels.

GP operator clinches property deal

According to WA Labor’s returns, Midland-based Health Integra paid $16,500 to the party in 2021-22 on top of $14,850 the year earlier.

Health Integra has operated a GP super clinic out of one of the heritage-listed refurbished railway workshops in Midland since 2012 and last year its affiliate company, Midland Health and Knowledge Precinct, purchased another two strata blocks next door for $6.38 million each.

The state, through Development WA, first announced a month-long sales period for the blocks in July 2021, but the sale did not occur until August 2022.

The sale wasn’t made public until November 2022 when Lands Minister John Carey revealed the workshop would be turned into a health, education and workforce training hub.

Health Integra said it maintained a strict donations policy independent of its project timelines.

“As a local business the company attends a variety of stakeholder and fundraising events each year as part of a broader program to reach relevant audiences and maintain current links with community representatives,” a spokeswoman said.

“Our business is all about moving hospital services out into the community and improving access for both sectors so it makes sense to be active in this space.”

A spokesman for the state government said the sales process for the Midland workshops was public and the evaluation process was overseen by an independent probity auditor.

“Health Integra’s submission was assessed as being the offer which provided the most suitable development outcome, best met the assessment criteria and was substantially the highest of the offers received – delivering the best outcomes for the state,” he said.

RAT kings splash cash

Basywater-based AM Diagnostics’ first appearance on the donations returns list was a big one.

The medical products importer made the biggest single donation to a WA party in 2021-22 – twice.

It donated $100,000 on two separate occasions to the WA Liberals. At the beginning of 2022, states were screaming for rapid antigen tests to improve testing rates for COVID-19 as the virus entered the country and overwhelmed PCR testing capacity.

AM Diagnostics was the first Australian company to receive approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration to supply RATs domestically, and reportedly by January 2022 had imported 30 million tests through 30 charter flights from China.

The company was also one of the largest suppliers of RATs to the WA government, which procured about $640 million worth of tests by January last year.

A TGA spokeswoman said it was not aware of any donations or other activities by AM Diagnostics.

“Our assessment was based on the technical data supplied. The AM Diagnostics test was the first self-test RAT application that following assessment, met all the regulatory requirements,” she said.

The spokeswoman said at the time all COVID-19 tests were being assessed as a priority because of the pandemic, and the process and guidance relating to regulatory requirements were published on their website. She said decisions on medical devices were made by independent delegates.

Miners’ many relationships

The donor with one of the most multi-faceted relationships with governments was Mineral Resources, which paid $34,000 to WA Labor and a total of $64,000 to the WA Liberals. It also donated $20,000 to the WA Nationals.

In 2021-22 it gave $92,400 to WA Labor.

Like the rest of the mining and resources sector, Mineral Resources is highly reliant on favourable federal government workplace, migration and environmental policies for its success.

At a state level, the company has plenty to gain from a good relationship with the government.

In February 2022, Mineral Resources, in a joint venture with Hancock Prospecting, received WA government approval to develop a new iron ore export facility at Port Hedland.

It also continues to benefit from tens of millions of dollars in operating subsidies and hundreds of millions in iron ore royalty exemptions for ore mined at its Koolyanobbing mine in the Goldfields and exported through Esperance Port.

Those subsidies are set to finish this financial year, but in May last year, the government flagged it was developing an iron ore strategy for Esperance Port, which would contemplate further financial subsidies.

A Mineral Resources spokesman said donations were declared in line with the Australian Electoral Commission reporting obligations.

Both the WA Liberals and Labor continued to run cash-for-access events for MPs and ministers, which are not explicitly attributed in annual returns but are hinted at under uniform payments noted as “other receipts”.

WA Labor continued to run its successful Labor Business Roundtable money-spinner, helping the associated entity that runs it, Perth Trades Hall, declare $510,000 in 2021-22.

Members of the roundtable include Perdaman, which secured ministerial approval for its $6 billion urea project in the Pilbara in January 2022. The state government already plans to spend $300 million to build common user infrastructure around the plant.

‘Get cash out of politics’, critics say

Centre for Public Integrity executive director Han Aulby said the above cases were good examples of why money should be taken out of politics.

“There’s a risk that political donations can help give companies better access and influence,” Aulby said.

“Money shouldn’t be able to buy power, it should be about public interest, and everyone should have equal access in a democracy.

“We need to limit the disclosure threshold to $1000 and cap both political donations and campaign spending, so the public can be trusting that money’s not getting in the way of good decision-making.”

The federal government is considering changes to donations laws including real-time declaration of donations above $1000. It will also consider caps on election spending.

The state government is yet to reintroduce legislation to improve donation transparency in WA and bring down the disclosure threshold to $1000.

The government spokesman said McGowan government ministers always acted in the public interest and directed questions about donations to Labor.

WA Labor state secretary Ellie Whiteaker said the party received donations from organisations in accordance with the Electoral Act.

“WA Labor does not accept donations subject to any conditions,” she said.

A WA Liberal Party spokesman said contributions to the party were disclosed in accordance with the law.

“The Liberal Party’s fundraising code specifically prohibits accepting donations with conditions attached,” he said.

AM Diagnostics and Perdaman were contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.

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