City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp received more than $330,000 in campaign donations for by-election

LORD Mayor Sally Capp scooped up hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations for the recent by-election, the city council has revealed. Here’s how much other candidates received.

LORD Mayor Sally Capp scooped up more than $330,000 in campaign donations for the recent by-election, the city council has revealed.

Cr Capp’s donors included Big End of Town figures like the Fox Group’s David Fox and his mother Paula ($10,000 each), the Pratt Group’s Alex Waislitz ($5000), merchant banker John Wylie ($5000), Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer ($5000) and former mining executive Hugh Morgan ($500).

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Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has scooped up more than $300,000 in campaign donations for the recent by-election.

Others included TV personality and PwC executive Russel Howcroft ($1000), socialite and Crown Casino executive Ann Peacock ($4000) and $1550 from Deborah Beale, ex-wife of federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

The Lord Mayor’s aunt by marriage and former federal Labor minister, Roslyn Kelly, contributed $20,000 to her successful campaign.

Lord mayoral runner-up and ALP member Jennifer Yang declared $173,000 in donations, mainly from Asian community sources.

Ms Yang’s biggest donation, of $32,000, came from Jung Lin Yang while $30,000 was received from John McCluskey.

Greens lord mayoral aspirant and sitting councillor Rohan Leppert received $18,545, the biggest contribution being $5111 from the party in cash and other support.

City of Melbourne candidate Gary Morgan had nothing to declare.

Mayor candidate Jennifer Yang’s biggest campaign donation was $32,000

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Linda Gale and Ken McAlpine tipped $2400 into the campaign, while Cr Leppert’s council colleague Cathy Oke contributed $800 and former Melbourne mayor Lecki Ord gave $600.

Independent candidate Sally Warhaft declared $14,541 in donations, including $10,041 of in-kind support from Friends of Queen Victoria Market involving a mobile billboard.

Candidates Michael Burge, Nathalie Nicole O’Sughrue and Xie Qun had no disclosable gifts.

A spokeswoman for Cr Capp said she ran as an independent candidate and therefore couldn’t rely on political party support to fund her campaign.

“Cr Capp was fortunate to have the support of a wide range of people across all stratas of society and the business community,” she said.

“The spokeswoman said that any changes to campaign donation laws were a matter for the state government.

“If (Cr) Capp was to run for council again, she would of course comply with whatever laws were in place at that time.”

Cr Leppert declared his contributions during the campaign and called for the state government to legislate for donations to be disclosed every week before an election.

“The cost of these elections grows every time we have an election.’’

The current system disadvantaged community members and benefited those who had money to bankroll their campaign, he said.

“Is the Lord Mayor to be the wealthiest candidate or do we want to restore democracy?”

Businessman and former councillor Ken Ong received just one donation — $200 from friends Dominic and Daria Lai.

Horse-drawn carriage operator Alex McDonald put in $2500 of his own money.

Candidates Allan Watson, Bruce Poon and Gary Morgan had nothing to declare, while no return was lodged by Luke Downing.

Arts advocate Katie Sfetkidis received $1000 from Chris Sfetkidis.

The release of the donation returns came as it emerged that former lord mayor Robert Doyle contributed $40,000 more to his 2016 campaign than the $22,000 he disclosed at the time.

Mr Doyle updated his return in a letter to the council in January when he had stepped aside from being lord mayor over sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.

Cr Leppert said the returns were evidence that the 2018 mayor election was the most expensive campaign ever.

“Truth in disclosures was a major issue during the campaign. It’s very disappointing.’’

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