Sydney nonagenarians Judith Parker and Isaac Wakil make $1m donations to the Liberals

One was born in Orange in 1932 and the other in Iraq in 1927. They are unrelated, live on opposite sides of Sydney Harbour — and gave $2 million to the Libs in 2021-22.

What would the Liberal Party do for donations if it wasn’t for nonagenarians?

In NSW, the two biggest monetary gifts to the Libs last financial year came from unrelated wealthy Sydneysiders who are both in their 90s.

According to new disclosure documents published by the Australian Electoral Commission, the largest sum given to a major party by a Sydney donor was $1,000,550, via the company Jefferson Investments.

More than $900,000 of its support went to various divisions of the Liberal Party, with the federal operation getting half a million dollars.

Arms of the Labor Party got about $90,000.

Large donors to political parties in 2021-22. Picture: transparency.aec.gov.au

Jefferson’s sole shareholder is 90-year Judith Parker of Mosman, whose late husband Ken was reportedly a mentor to billionaire Kerry Stokes, as well as a business partner.

Mr Stokes was a director of Jefferson Investments for 20 years. He owned a sixth of its shares, but his association ended in 2001.

The late Ken Parker. Picture: News Corp Australia

The company was established in 1969 and its sole director is CBD accountant Stephen Bennett of Wynn & Bennett. The firm has also acted for Mr Stokes in property deals.

Wynn & Bennett — which appears to handle all of Orange-born Ms Parker’s business interests — did not respond to a request for comment.

The $1 million donation to the Liberals was by Baghdad-born Isaac Wakil, who made his money in the clothing trade.

Mr Wakil, who recently celebrated his 96th birthday, gave the entire seven-figure sum via a company called Sugolena Holdings.

He did not donate to Labor; nor did Mrs Parker.

The Vaucluse resident is no stranger to large political donations, having given the Liberals more than $4 million in 2018-19 to help the Morrison government stave off Bill Shorten’s ALP.

Isaac Wakil is a noted philanthropist, as was his late wife Susan. Picture: John Appleyard

Mr Wakil is also one of Sydney’s most generous philanthropists, recently giving $24 million to help fund the new Sydney Modern gallery.

He could not be contacted for comment.

The next largest donation from Sydney was by the Lowy brothers, David and Steven, of Westfield fame.

They gave $550,000 to the Liberals through a company called Oryxium Investments. Of that, $300,000 went to the NSW branch and the rest to Victoria.

And the Ray White family, led by Brian White, donated $300,000 — all of it to the Victorian Liberal Party via the blandly named Group Administration Australia Pty Ltd.

Steven Lowy speaks at a Westfield AGM in 2018. Picture: AAP’s David Moir

The single-biggest donation to the Libs was by Melbourne-based billionaire Anthony Pratt of Visy Industries, who provided nearly $2 million. He gave exactly the same amount to Labor.

The largest gift to the teal cause was by Scott Farquhar.

The Atlassian co-founder donated $1.5 million to Climate 200 Pty Ltd, which then disbursed the cash to various candidates running against sitting Liberal MPs.

All are dwarfed by billionaire Clive Palmer’s eye-watering $117 million spend on the United Australia Party.

The UAP did not win a single lower house seat at the May 2022 election. It claimed one upper house spot — a senator for Victoria.

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