Political donation transparency: Donor list for Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 movement

Climate 200 director Simon Holmes a Court. Picture: Aaron Francis

In the unfolding dying days of the 46th parliament, transparency – particularly when it comes to political donations – is dominating the discourse.

Whether it be Warringah MP Zali Steggall’s alleged lack of it around a $100,000 historic ­donation from businessman John Kinghorn, or millionaire climate activist Simon Holmes a Court calling for more of it from the major parties, the issue of transparency has dominated.

Holmes a Court, whose late corporate raider father Robert Holmes a Court was Australia’s first billionaire, is proud that the more than 8000 donors to his Climate 200 movement are openly disclosed on his group’s website. Sadly, the disclosure doesn’t go so far as to reveal how much each has given.

But there’s really only one Climate 200 donor that particularly piques Margin Call’s interest and that’s the less than three-year-old outfit called the Climate Outcomes Foundation – which has oddly been deregistered via paperwork filed in November.

The foundation is described on its dormant Twitter account as “a not-for-profit research ­centre working to position Australia to achieve good climate outcomes for the benefit of all”.

The hyperlink to the group’s website leads nowhere.

Illustration: Rod Clement

A one-time private wealth adviser from Hunters Hill, Mitchell Hopwood, who is now the local boss of an asset-backed lender, has been sole director, secretary and shareholder of the foundation since it was created on April 11, 2019.

This happens to be two days after Climate 200 was born.

Climate 200 had financial adviser Damien Hodgkinson as its sole director, secretary and shareholder too, with Holmes a Court not joining as a director until September last year.

Hodgkinson, remember, was Steggall’s campaign accountant.

The foundation has given money to Climate 200 for several years.

In 2019 it donated $195,000 to the group, which backs independent candidates to take on the majors. A disclosure lodged by Climate 200 on January 27 reveals the foundation gave a further $77,000 in the 2021 financial year.

Combined, that’s $272,000 to help fund campaigns from the likes of Steggall, Allegra Spender in Wentworth seeking to oust Liberal MP Dave Sharma, and Monique Ryan in Kooyong seeking to topple Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

For perspective ANZ, worth $80bn, gave just under $250,000 in political donations in the 2021 financial year, putting Hopwood’s foundation in the donor big league.

We called Hopwood to discuss his donations, but the message went unanswered.

Hopwood is based in Sydney, but the foundation was attached to an address in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, out of which accounting firm Ben Kaplan & Associates was based.

We note that the firm has recently merged into Armadale financial accounting outfit KNP Solutions, which by coincidence is the group used to establish a brand new venture between Holmes a Court and Hopwood called Decarb Ventures.

The millionaire Holmes a Court and wife Katrina have 91 per cent of Decarb, while a vehicle owned by Hopwood has the rest.

Safe to say the Holmes a Courts call the shots.

We called KNP to discuss the Climate Outcomes Foundation and Decarb, but did not hear back.

We got in touch with Climate 200 too, again to no avail.

So as it stands the Climate Outcomes Foundation sweeps into our democracy just ahead of the May 2019 election, hangs around splashing some cash in the direction of Climate 200 for effectively one political cycle, and then disappears, without voters ever getting a handle on where the money actually came from.

Is that what Holmes a Court means by transparency?

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Packing in values

Memo to Dan Andrews: please end Victoria’s ban on elective surgery, at least for the sake of the staff at Australia’s second-biggest private hospital group, Healthscope.

As the company – which Canadian private equity giant Brookfield bought for $4.4bn in 2019 – reels from costly elective surgery bans, which have emptied its wards, it has taken a gamble on refreshing its values. After all, its consultants need something to do.

Margin Call revealed last year how the Len Chersky-chaired company had created four new staff values, which were linked to each suit of a deck of cards. We hear some employees were baffled by the internal communications strategy, which had the hallmarks of a problem gambling poster you might expect to see on the back of pokies den dunny door.

But finally Healthscope boss Steven Rubic has offered some clarity.

Healthscope CEO Steven Rubic. Picture: Glenn Campbell

This week Rubic – known for his straight talking and passion for all things NRL – launched the latest instalment of the staff values: “A brand new reward and recognition event” called “Ace Awards”, which will align to Healthscope’s values around safety.

“Just as our values reflect the four suits in a deck of cards (heart for care, spades for do, diamonds for strive and clubs for teams), the aces represent the very best in the Healthscope pack,” Rubic posted on LinkedIn.

Which begs the question, when do we find out who the Joker in the Healthscope pack is?

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Price is right

Now that Melissa Price is back in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s cabinet after spending some time on the outer, looks like there’s less time for holidays.

The former lawyer, mining executive and now Durack MP in Western Australia has for some time enjoyed the change of scene that a portfolio of properties can provide.

Price, Minister for Defence Industry and Minister for Science and Technology, has a place in Canberra’s Kingston that she can use when the parliament is sitting, as well as an expansive seaside home in Marmion – a northern coastal suburb of Perth. There’s also a place in Geraldton, on the coast about 450km north of Perth.

Melissa Price.

Plenty of pillows, then, for Price, 58, to rest her weary head with signature fiery locks.

Price’s partner, Bradley Bell, also had a pad down Margaret River way in Quedjinup, just a few minutes from Dunsborough, but that has just been sold for the sweet price of $1.6m.

The retreat, set in the treetops and with views through to Geographe Bay, was also generating income for Price and Bell as a holiday rental.

But really, how much sea air can one enjoy?

In her time in the parliament since 2013, Price has maintained an interesting and at times extensive share portfolio. We’ll be watching to see where the now loose cash gets splashed.

Simon Holmes a Court

Steven Rubic

Melissa Price