LNP trounces Labor in donor stakes

The Liberal National Party has ­received more than double the amount of money from donors than what Labor has in the first weeks of the campaign.

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The Liberal National Party has ­received more than double the amount of money from donors than what Labor has in the first weeks of the campaign, while Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy company paid almost $1m directly to United Australia Party candidates in the past fortnight.

Records from the Electoral Commission of Queensland show that in the four weeks to Monday, party supporters have donated $1,336,823 to the LNP’s campaign efforts through 523 individual ­donations. The sum trumps the $646,104 raised by Labor through 253 contributions over the same period.

Businesses helped fortify the LNP’s campaign through several large donations. Pratt Holdings, a company led by Australia’s richest man, Anthony Pratt, splashed $20,000 on the campaign on ­October 22. Some of the party’s single biggest donors included Coastwide Engineering with a $50,000 donation and Delta ­Investments with $22,000.

A large portion of funding raised for Team Palaszczuk was provided by unions. The Australian Workers Union of Employees Queensland donated a cumulative $81,316, while the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Industrial Union of Employees Queensland gave Labor $34,801.

Labor’s single largest donor, David Hinchliffe, was responsible for $96,700 through a series of 15 payments since September 28.

Gold Coast theme park operator Village Roadshow donated $25,000 to each campaign over the period. Both parties have pledged funding to tourism if elected at the October 31 poll.

Mr Palmer’s flagship private company Mineralogy has paid ­almost $1m directly to United Australia Party candidates across the state, one third of whom are ­either employees or relatives of the billionaire businessman.

Since September 28, Mineralogy has made 75 individual ­donations to UAP candidates to the tune of $2,573,982. A total of $816,419 was donated since October 20.

The sum includes a mid-October gift of $1.74m. It falls just behind the $2m donation by Mineralogy on September 16, which took the prize for the largest single donation in Queensland political history.

The figure does not include the $50,000 donated by Anna Palmer — UAP deputy leader and wife of Mr Palmer — who made the contribution in her own name to the party’s candidate for the seat of Bundaberg, Shane Smeltz, on the Sunday prior to polling day.

The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (QLD) was the largest donor to the Katter’s Australian Party, with $30,000 of the $83,928 collected. The amount was far more than that achieved by the Greens, who received $52,537 from 67 donations. Donations to the One Nation Queensland division amounted to $7900.