PM Albanese to attend $5000-a-head Labor fundraiser

Australia’s Prime Minister will dine at a greater Darwin venue tonight - but a seat at his table will come at a cost.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend a $5000 a head fundraiser at a swanky greater Darwin restaurant on Friday before flying to China for an official visit.

The Northern Territory Labor Party branch is making the most of the PM’s whistlestop visit with a pay-for-access dinner.

The dinner will be held in a private function room within a local restaurant, which will trade as normal while the PM and the NT’s political bigwigs mix wining-and-dining with wheeling-and-dealing.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Aaron Francis

The private room is understood to have a capacity of about 35-people.

Solomon MP Luke Gosling is expected to accompany the PM.

This masthead understands the menu for the official visit is still being finalised, but regular menu items such as sesame seared scallops with hoisin glaze and fried basil or pan seared duck breast served in spiced star anise and ginger broth with soba noodles could be served up.

If he decides to wait until China for noodles, he could hoover down an angus scotch fillet.

Political parties may soon have to change how they finance elections and fundraise after the joint standing committee on electoral matters in June recommended lowering the disclosure threshold for political donations to $1000 and real-time disclosure.

It’s anticipated fundraising dinners such as this would be included in any reforms.

NT Labor Branch president Anthony Venes declined to comment on the dinner.

Mr Albanese flies out of Darwin for an official four-day visit to Beijing on the weekend.

He will be the first Australian Prime Minister to meet with China’s president Xi Jinping since Malcolm Turnbull in 2017.