The biggest donors to council candidates revealed

More than $4 million was donated to candidates for Victoria’s council elections in October, including hundreds of thousands poured into tight inner-city contests in Port Phillip, Yarra and Merri-bek councils.

Analysis of suburban and country council election donation disclosures – published on council websites just before Christmas – shows the Greens were the biggest single entity donor at the elections, tipping in nearly half-a-million dollars for 124 candidates, followed by property developer Intaj Khan and the Liberal Party.

The Age compiled and analysed donation disclosure returns of all candidates across 78 councils in Victoria. While councils are legally bound to publish all disclosable donations to candidates, they are published in different formats by each council, with no standard way to compare council areas.

Importantly, although candidates are legally obliged to declare cash or in-kind donations of more than $500 in value, there is no way to know whether a candidate received undeclared donations. The Age found at least 118 candidates who did not submit donation disclosure forms at all, in breach of the local government laws.

Candidates face fines of more than $11,855 from the Local Government Inspectorate for not submitting donation returns. But a spokeswoman for the agency said that after the 2020 council elections, the 144 candidates who did not submit returns received only a warning letter.

Where were the big dollars spent?
Unsurprisingly, the City of Melbourne collectively had the largest total donation amount at $2.5 million – 40 per cent of that tally went to new Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s successful ticket alone. Thirteen times more money was donated to the City of Melbourne race than the next most-donated to council.

Port Phillip Council – which takes in St Kilda, Port Melbourne and Albert Park – had the second-highest total for donations with $195,065 declared, followed by Yarra City Council (which includes Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood), where $134,609 was declared and Merri-bek (Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner), where $114,934 was spent.

Further down the list was Darebin – where a fierce contest between Labor and the Greens played out – with $72,764 donated, followed by the regional council of Shepparton, where $64,926 was declared.

In sixth place was Maribyrnong Council with $61,432 declared, followed by Mornington Peninsula ($60,493), Boroondara ($57,133), Ballarat ($55,099) and Wyndham ($54,283).

Which candidates received the most money?

City of Melbourne lord mayoral tickets attracted large donations, as reported extensively by The Age. These candidate alliances account for the biggest donation numbers in the state: Team Nick declared $952,984 , Team Wood declared $582,568, Team Kouta declared $469,106 and the Liberal ticket declared $200,000. Khan was the running mate for lord mayoral candidate Anthony Koutoufides – a former Carlton AFL great – and tipped in the lion’s share of half-a-million dollars in donations received by the four-person Team Kouta ticket.

Outside the City of Melbourne, the candidates who received the most donations were now-Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly, who declared $35,966 in donations, and Shepparton’s Steven Threlfall, with $33,739.20. Jolly’s ward – MacKillop in Yarra – had more donations than any other ward in the state (outside the City of Melbourne) with $42,850 declared – including $20,000 from a single donor, Peter Kurg.

Stephen Jolly, now Yarra mayor, was the candidate who received the most donations outside the City of Melbourne.Credit: Justin McManus

Successful Port Phillip candidate Serge Thomann and unsuccessful candidate Brendan Perera were next on the list, receiving $23,902 and $19,051 respectively.

New Mornington Peninsula Mayor Anthony Marsh disclosed $18,273 in donations from his own company, Natant Group Pty Ltd, followed by new Ballarat councillor Samantha McIntosh with $18,000.

The Greens

The Victorian Greens were by far the biggest official party donors, spending $536,330 in total across 38 councils. The party tipped the most into Port Phillip Council ($55,198), where it ran seven candidates – none of whom were elected.

In Yarra, the party spent $50,833 and just two of nine candidates were elected. In Merri-bek it spent $47,064 and got three of nine councillors elected. In Maribyrnong, $41,965 was spent supporting seven candidates – three of whom were elected – and in Darebin the party spent $33,294 across seven candidates, but only three were elected.

Former Prahran Greens state MP Sam Hibbins gave $1354 across four Greens candidates in Stonnington, and Greens senator Janet Rice donated $845 across five candidates. Hibbins resigned from the Greens after the council election when an affair with a party staffer came to light.

State MP Tim Read gave $860 across 15 Greens candidates, and state MP Gabrielle de Vietri gave $100 to Boroondara Greens candidate Jackie Carter.

Labor

The Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party officially endorsed 52 candidates across the state, declaring a total spend of $53,146. The party spent the most on the City of Melbourne race ($5000), where one of its candidates, Davydd Griffiths, was elected. Lord Mayor Nick Reece is also a Labor Party member but didn’t run under the Labor name.

The ALP spent $11,250 in Whittlesea in Melbourne’s north, where four of its 10 candidates were elected, and $11,570 in Darebin, where five of its nine candidates were elected. It also spent $8759 in Port Phillip (two of seven Labor candidates elected), $7500 in Merri-bek (three of 11 elected), $6576 in Moonee Valley (four of seven elected) and $2500 in Yarra (one of three elected).

Victorian Labor MP Natalie Hutchins donated to Brimbank Labor candidate Katharine Nikolic.Credit: Penny Stephens

Labor state and federal MPs also kicked into their local counterparts’ campaigns. State member for Sydenham and cabinet minister Natalie Hutchins gave $1915 to successful Brimbank councillor Katharine Nikolic, while Mill Park MP and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio gave $500 to unsuccessful Whittlesea candidate Monique Lobosco.

Kororoit MP Luba Grigorovitch gave $500 to successful Wyndham candidate Robert Szatkowski, while federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, the MP for Ballarat, gave $500 to successful Ballarat council candidate Jay Morrison. Both Szatkowski and Morrison were not officially endorsed Labor candidates.

Former federal MP Kim Carr gave $500 to successful Merri-bek Labor candidate Helen Politis. Politis also received $2000 from former Labor state MP Carlo Carli, and $1300 from Victorian MP Sheena Watt.

Unions

Unions were among the biggest donors to Labor candidates, with the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employee Union donating $40,000 to the Reece ticket in the City of Melbourne and a further $22,617.75 to three unsuccessful candidates in the outer-suburban Maroondah Council: Aaron Martini, Brendan Woods and Susan Burgess. It also kicked in $500 to unsuccessful Merri-bek candidate Lambros Tapinos’ campaign.

There were $7611 in declared donations from the Australian Workers Union, about half of which went to Brimbank Labor candidates: Katharine Nikolic (elected), Ranka Rasic (elected) and Tayla Vorgiatzidis (unelected). A further $2104 was declared to unsuccessful Merri-bek candidates Lambros Tapinos and Praveen Kumar and $1603.30 to the elected Katerine Theodosis. In Melton, the union gave $1784 to newly elected Phillip Zada.

The Health and Community Services Union donated $500 each to elected Geelong candidate Sarah Hathway, successful Whittlesea councillor Debra Gunn and unsuccessful Darebin candidate Kate Polglaze.

The Electrical Trades Union donated $60,000 to the Reece campaign and $500 to successful Shepparton candidate Steven Threlfall.

Liberal Party

Although 30 known Liberal Party members were elected in metropolitan councils, the Liberals only officially donated $200,000 into the City of Melbourne, where it ran four candidates, with one elected – Owen Guest.

Victorian Socialists

The Victorian Socialists paid between $300 and $600 each to 19 candidates at a total of $6200; all candidates bar one (Owen Cosgriff in Bendigo) were unsuccessful. The Socialist Alliance – a different party – funded two Merri-bek candidates (Sue Bolton and Felix Dance) at a total of $7057.58. Bolton was elected, Dance was not.

Community groups

Outside the City of Melbourne, notable large donors were incorporated associations and informal groups used as funding vehicles for candidates, including the Residents of Port Phillip group – which funnelled $67,426.85 into five candidates – and Yarra For All, which gave nearly $30,000 to nine candidates.

Both entities are incorporated associations registered with the Consumer Affairs Victoria.

RoPP – formerly known as the Ratepayers of Port Phillip Incorporated – had three of its candidates elected: Rod Hardy, Bryan Mears and Beti Jay.

In Yarra, now-Mayor Stephen Jolly is listed as the secretary of “Yarra For All Inc”, which paid out a total of $29,554.18 to nine candidates – of whom three were elected: Jolly, Evangeline Aston and Sharon Harrison. After the December 19 statutory deadline for election campaign donation disclosures, Yarra City Council added details of two more donations, including from Councillor Kenneth Gomez who also received $2342.58 from Yarra for All Inc, bringing the total from the association to almost $32,000.

Yarra For All independent candidates (from left) Victoria Chipperfield, Michael Glynatsis, Stephen Jolly, Bridgid O’Brien, Peter Sprott, Eva Aston, Theresa Saldanha, Brielle Pope, Ken Gomez, Sharon Harrison and campaign chief of staff Catherine Mililli.Credit: Jason South

Another entity – Caring East Gippsland, run by former councillor Jane Greacen – donated $15,045.22 to nine candidates, but only one (Tom Crook) was elected. The group is not an incorporated association and fundraised via a GoFundMe page. Another unofficial group, People Empowering Port Phillip (PEPP), organised by now-councillor Serge Thomann paid out $7000 in total to five candidates in Port Phillip, with only Thomann elected.

These groups have been referred to as “quasi-parties” of “independent” candidates, with candidates using similar branding, funding source and often policy platforms.

Companies

There were at least 45 companies that donated to candidates, including property developers and real estate agents, the vast majority in the City of Melbourne campaign.

Outside the City of Melbourne large corporate donations were $10,395 from Master Advocates Real Estate service Pty Ltd to unsuccessful Moonee Valley candidate Mark Errichiello, and $5000 from Derinean Pty Ltd to successful Shepparton candidate Anthony Brophy.

Property developer giant MAB, run by Andrew and Michael Buxton, gave $3000 to successful Liberal councillor Tom Humphries at Stonnington Council under the trading name Kettlestone Pty Ltd, while developer Bill McNee gave him $4600 under the trading name AP Management Pty Ltd.

Local government activist Dean Hurlston.Credit: Simon Schluter

There are currently no caps on donations to local councils in Victoria, and no limitations on any industries or foreign organisations from donating as long as they are declared if above $500.

Experts have previously warned that Victoria is behind other states on election integrity, with South Australia proposing to ban political donations altogether, Queensland having had real-time disclosures since the 2017 state election and NSW banning donations from property developers.

Dean Hurlston, from ratepayer activist group Council Watch, said his organisation wanted all donations from developers, gambling businesses and politicians banned outright, as well as a $4000 cap on all donations – including by political parties.

“We also want disclosures to be in real time as donated up to election day and donations should be banned post-election day, so that voters know who candidates are funded by,” he said.

“We also want a donor register set up statewide so that all donations can be tracked by name, just like the lobbyist register at a state level.

“Transparency is the most important thing in Victoria and is seriously lacking.”

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