Nine’s 27,000 donation to Liberal Party revealed in AEC report

Nine Entertainment Co’s Liberal Party donation raises questions of its impact on the newspapers’ charter of editorial independence.

The $27,500 donation to the Liberal Party was made in 2019 by former Nine CEO Hugh Marks. Picture: AAP

Nine Entertainment Co donated $27,500 to the Liberal party in the last financial year as part of the company’s previous affiliation to a business forum.

It comes after former Nine Entertainment Co chief executive Hugh Marks in 2019 hosted a $10,000 per head Liberal Party fundraising event on the set of the network’s Today show raising questions about its impact on the Nine newspapers’ charter of editorial independence.

The 2019 event, which raised $700,000 for the Liberal party, was attended by several senior politicians including Scott Morrison, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, then-Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and sparked an angry backlash from the company’s newspaper journalists and the media union.

The $27,500 payment made in the last financial year was made under its former chief executive Hugh Marks who has since resigned, and the company has since implemented a policy against donating to political parties.

“The payment to the Australian Business Network was made under previous management when Nine was also a member of the Federal Labor Business Forum,” a Nine spokesperson said. “Nine has since implemented a blanket rule against donating to politically-affiliated business networks.”

The revelations come as part of the 2020-21 financial year figures released by the Australian Electoral Commission in a bid to achieve transparency in political donations.

Australian businessman Anthony Pratt was the biggest political donor in the last financial year, donating almost $1.3 million to political parties.

Anthony Pratt topped the list for politcal donations in 2020-21. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

The largest single donation made in the year was by Mr Pratt’s business, Pratt Holdings, which gave $750,000 to the Liberal Party.

The second and third largest donations were given to conservative political activist group Advance Australia, receiving $650,000 from Silver River Investment Holdings and $350,000 from Cartwright Investment Corporation.

This was followed by National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association which gave $150,000 to the Liberal Party of Australia.

Retail giant Wesfarmers donated $110,000 individual payments to both the Labor and Liberal parties, and made a single donation of $8250 to the West Australian division of the Liberal party.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris donated $55,000 to the Nationals, while Bob Katter’s Australian Party received donations of $100,000 from various shooting associations including Firearm Dealers Association and the Shooters Union Queensland, as well as $130,000 from Sporting Shooters Association of Australia.

Overall, there was a total of $17,904,618 political donations given in the previous financial year, with almost a quarter of all donations coming from ten donors. The Coalition received a total of $83,765,869 and the ALP accepted $67,346,461.

Major Australian banks featured prominently, giving various donations to both the Liberal and Labor Party. National Australia Bank gave equal donations of $55,000 to both major parties, as did Westpac making several donations to the various divisions of both major political parties with the largest being $27,500 to both the ALP and Liberals. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia donated to branches of both major parties throughout the year, with the largest sum totalling $55,000 to both Liberal and Labor.

William Nitschke was a top donor giving $100,000 to the Liberal party and $300,000 to the Great Australian party, which is a party started by former One Nation Senator Rod Culleton.

Gambling companies gave to both major political parties, with the ALP taking $55,000 from Sportsbet, and $50,000 from Tabcorp Holdings. Sportsbet also donated $88,000 to the Liberal party and its branches.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia was also a notably large funder with its donations totalling $295,000 split between Labor and Liberal parties.

Mining companies have also featured prominently donating to both major parties in the last financial year.

Mineral Resources gave $70,000 to the West Australian branches of the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party as well as $50,000 to the Nationals.

The Minerals Council of Australia gave $55,000 to the ALP.