Company at centre of WA election furore donated thousands to Labor last year

A subsidiary of the company that won an $86 million tender to recruit, train and manage 7000 election staff on Saturday donated more than $67,000 to WA Labor last year.

Recruitment firm PersolKelly is at the centre of controversy surrounding the execution of the election on Saturday, which was beset with issues including booths running out of ballot papers, untrained staff, and a glacially slow vote count.

The execution of the WA election has come under fire. Credit: WA Electoral Commission

PersolKelly is headquartered in Singapore and won the $86 million tender to run the 2025 and 2029 elections in 2023.

Its subsidiary Programmed – a staffing, maintenance and management firm – made five separate donations to WA Labor in 2024 for a total of $40,000, and another donation to Labor’s fundraising vehicle Perth Trades Hall worth $27,500.

It also donated $13,250 to the Liberal party and $2500 to the Nationals.

The revelation prompted criticism from Nationals leader Shane Love, who has written to the CCC urging it to investigate the donations and whether Programmed’s foreign ownership breached any donation rules.

“This is an extraordinary situation. Not only did WAEC outsource its core functions for the first time in living memory, it handed the contract to a private overseas firm whose donation history raises serious questions about transparency and integrity,” Love said.

“It is deeply concerning that PersolKelly, which is headquartered in Singapore, has donated more than $60,000 to the WA Labor Party and its affiliated groups in the lead-up to the election.”

“The WA Labor government must explain how a private, foreign-owned labour hire company with no experience in running WA elections was given control of our democratic process, and why that same company is a major political donor.”

Love has already called for the suspension of WAEC Commissioner Robert Kennedy and a parliamentary investigation into the election’s “failings”.

“This election has been plagued by failings – ballot shortages, postal delays, missing mobile polling, and widespread voter frustration,” he said.

Kennedy has already confirmed he would conduct an investigation into what went wrong.

A WAEC spokeswoman said the tender was conducted along Department of Finance guidelines and was open to all.

She said general online inductions were provided to recruits and role-specific training was provided.

“For specialist staff this included face-to-face training by WAEC staff. The WAEC also prepared a range of written and online resources including training modules, videos and guides,” she said.

A WA Labor spokeswoman said the party accepted donations in line with WA electoral laws, and did not accept donations from foreign donors.

‘FIFO’ election workers

Election workers in the state’s north-west say poor local recruiting led to big costs in flying booth attendants and security guards from Perth to regional polling stations to cover the early voting period and election day.

The workers, who asked not to be identified, said in previous elections and last year’s voice referendum it was routine to hire locals to officiate at booths, at considerably less cost.

But ineffective or tardy advertising by the company PersolKelly contracted to hire staff, including late callouts on Facebook, led to manpower gaps that were filled by flying people up from Perth.

WAtoday was told Perth-based applicants whose local booths were fully manned were then offered places in one of several north-west towns, including Port Hedland, Kununurra, Broome, Carnarvon and Karratha.

In one north-west town, several people with no prior election experience were flown up and spent 12 days manning booths. Airfares to north-west destinations cost more than $1000 return, while accommodation costs average $250-300 a day.

The “fly-in, fly-out” electoral workers received a meal allowance of just under $100 a day, plus $700 a week payment.

WAtoday has been told two residents living in the same town who applied for electoral roles did not get a response to their applications.

A security guard flown to one of the towns for two weeks incurred an estimated cost of more than $7000, despite security personnel being available for hire in that location.

A spokesman for Premier Roger Cook said the priority was for the count to be completed and the government would establish an independent investigation at an appropriate time.

PersolKelly deferred questions to the WAEC.

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