Clive Palmer, unions spent up big to fight election, AEC data shows
Clive Palmer donated $83.7m to his United Australia Party, which failed to win a single seat on May 18.
Unions, including the CFMEU, donated nearly $14m to the Labor Party in the lead-up to last year’s federal election, while spending another $35m to bolster their own campaigns against the Coalition.
But the donations, revealed in Australian Electoral Commission disclosures on Monday, pale in comparison to the $83.7m donated by billionaire Clive Palmer to his United Australia Party, which failed to win a single seat on May 18 despite a sustained advertising blitz.
The unions’ total donations in the 2018-19 financial year were up $4m on the $9.7m donated in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Outgoing Greens leader Richard Di Natale seized on Mr Palmer’s donation — the biggest in Australian political history — declaring the spending showed all that was wrong with politics.
“That’s not a democracy, that’s actually somebody buying influence,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest problems we face in our politics. We’ve got to clean it up.
“If you want to have people’s voices represented in this place, we’ve got to get donations reform — we haven’t made enough progress on that.”
As of June 30, the UAP still owed $8.2m to Google and $600,000 to IPG Marketing Solutions.
The disclosures show Mr Palmer’s wife, Anna, donated $330,000 to her husband’s former party, the Nationals.
The Liberal Party’s top donation of $6m came from its fundraising entity the Cormack Foundation.
The party’s second-biggest donor was Sugolena, the company of Sydney philanthropist Isaac Wakil, who made 20 payments to the party, totalling $4.1m.
After Sugolena, the Pratt family was the most generous donor to the Liberals, contributing $1.3m from Pratt Holdings, as well as a $75,000 personal donation from Jeanne Pratt.
Several Liberal politicians also made personal donations, with Victorian MP Gladys Liu contributing $90,000, Queensland senator Paul Scarr $125,000 and Victorian MP Russell Broadbent $14,000. Former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger donated $100,000.
The CFMEU declared receipts of $181.3m in the 2018-19 financial year, with the largest contributors to the union’s war chest being the Canberra Tradesmen’s Union Club with $6m, Incolink with $10.7m and the sale of RED listed shares providing $11m.
Total receipts, which include all donations regardless of the $13,800 reporting threshold, other payments, returns from financial investments and loans, amounted to $176m for the Coalition and $126m for Labor.
The Greens received $20.4m, while Pauline Hanson’s One Nation received $3m. The Liberals declared $22.6m in donations and Labor $18.2m.
Indian mining giant Adani donated $50,000 to the Liberals, while its Carmichael Rail Network company donated $50,000 to the Liberals and $100,000 to the Nationals.
Simon Fenwick, a Sydney businessman and board member of “conservative GetUp-style” organisation Advance Australia, donated $275,000.
Adelaide philanthropists Ian and Pamela Wall donated $363,000 between them to the Liberal Party.
Many other wealthy individuals donated to the Liberals, with contributions including $215,000 from WA iron ore miner Charles Bass, $171,000 from Melbourne IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis, $140,000 from Roslyn Packer, $110,000 from Sydney businessman Adam Blumenthal, $100,000 from former Shell executive Roland Williams and $50,000 from Melbourne QC Allan Myers.
Servcorp chief executive Alf Moufarrige made a $50,000 personal donation to the Liberals, with another $92,000 from Servcorp and $104,000 from his other company, Sovori.
