Gambler Duncan Turpie donates $500,000 to Greens

Professional gambler Duncan Turpie has given $500,000 to the Greens for the party’s campaign to defend three Brisbane seats it won at the last election.

Greens's political donor, professional gambler Duncan Turpie.

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Professional gambler Duncan Turpie has raised the stakes in his financial support of the Greens, laying down $500,000 for the minor party’s campaign to defend three Brisbane seats it won at the last election.

The reclusive gambler, mathematician and investor gave five donations of $100,000 each in the past two months to help fund the party’s billboard and social media advertising blitz ahead of the May 3 federal election.

It marks the largest known ­individual donation of the current federal campaign, with the possible exception of Clive Palmer who it is believed is funding his party, Trumpet of Patriots, through his companies. Mr Turpie has long been a financial backer of the Greens in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT, donating $772,000 in Queensland alone to the party since 2017.

But the $500,000 – which was declared by the Greens to the Electoral Commission of Queensland, and made public within the state legislated seven-day disclosure requirement – is the biggest amount given by Mr Turpie to the Greens for the party to campaign.

The donations from the professional gambler was accepted by the Greens as the party champions what it describes as the “strongest policy” among its political rivals to crack down on gaming advertising. Under its policy, online gambling advertisements would be banned along with television commercials before and after sport and during children’s viewing times.

A senior Greens’ officials on Monday dismissed any suggestion of hypocrisy, saying “there is a big difference between a gambler and a gambling company”.

The donations were declared on the ECQ website by the Greens but were described as “non-political” despite the party not disputing that the funds were being used for the campaign. A spokesman for the Queensland Greens said the discrepancy arose from the party attempting to be transparent and using the ECQ website to publicly declare donations as they were ­received. The spokesman said the ECQ only deemed donations political when they are used for state elections.

“All federal election donations above $1000 have been declared in real-time by the Queensland Greens using the ECQ disclosure system,’’ the spokesman said. “While there is no legal requirement for federal donations to be declared in real-time, the party chooses to do so for transparency.

“Any donation that is not a state election political donation must be declared as a general non-political donation in the ECQ system.

“All federal donations will ­appear as general non-political donations on the ECQ website because they will be used on the federal election and not the state election.”