Defeated Terry Mills donated $200,000 to Territory Alliance’s election campaign

DETHRONED Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills donated more than $200,000 during the NT election, accounting for almost half of his party’s entire campaign donations

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DETHRONED Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills donated more than $200,000 during the NT election, accounting for almost half of his party’s entire campaign donations.

The NT Electoral Commission (NTEC) last night released donation information for the 2020 election period from July 1-September 21.

The figures show more than $2 million in total donations flowed to Territory political parties in the lead up to the August election.

Mr Mills made a whopping donation of $206,559, making up almost half of the party’s total donations ($486,338).

Territory Alliance Leader Terry Mills made a whopping $206,559 donation to his party during the election. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

However, Mr Mills ended up being defeated during the election and lost his seat of Blain.

His former campaign director during the election and former staffer James Lantry also made a generous donation of $54,000.

Mr Lantry also owns the polling company MediaReach whose research suggested Territory Alliance could win seven seats at the election.

Territory Alliance incurred a debt of $104,600 to his company during the election.

NT Labor received $851,963 worth of donations from 1515 donors during the election period compared to the CLP, which received $636,076 in donations among 235 donors.

More than $130,000 of NT Labor’s donations came from unions, including the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, the Community and Public Sector Union and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.

Property developer Henry Yap, via a donation in his own name and one via Yap Property Investments, has also donated a hefty $42,200 to NT Labor in the 2019/20 financial year.

Major gas and gambling companies also threw their monetary support behind NT Labor during the election including Empire Energy Group ($25,000) and Betfair ($3,975).

The CLP received a fair bit of backing local construction companies including North West Constructions ($10,000) and KCOM Constructions ($3000).

NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan said that all disclosure returns are subject to a compliance review that will be conducted by accounting firm BDO Pty Ltd.