Unions’ millions powered Labor election victory

Unions contributed $37 million in donations, campaign materials and election advertising for Anthony Albanese’s election campaign.

Unions contributed nearly $40 million to Anthony Albanese’s campaign and a further $17 million to the Labor Party.

Unions largely underwrote Anthony Albanese’s election victory, with $37m spent on donations, campaign materials and election advertising including $16m in direct payments to the Labor Party.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission annual disclosures, released on Wednesday, unions were the largest financial contributors to the ALP, which ­received about $124m in total – slightly above the $117m received by the Coalition parties.

The figures show a steep drop in Coalition donations compared to what was raised ahead of the 2019 election, when the Liberals and Nationals raked in a combined $181m and surpassed the donations received by Labor by more than $55m.

Last year, wealthy financier Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 outfit was the largest third-party spender, parting with  $13m to help teal candidates  successfully unseat six Liberal MPs.

The biggest donor was Clive Palmer’s company Mineralogy, which pumped nearly $120m into the United Australia Party to ­secure just one upper house seat.

In 2019, Mr Palmer’s company donated about $83m to the UAP.

The AEC disclosures reveal the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union was the largest donor to the Labor Party. It gave $4.3m in total, including $2.6m in direct donations and a further $1.7 in “other receipts”, which included memberships and services rendered such as the provision of office space.

The CFMEU – which on Wednesday was ordered to pay $328,000 in penalties by the Fair Work Ombudsman for defying right-of-entry laws – spent a further $4m on campaign advertising and material, making it the second-largest “third party” spender behind Climate 200.

Anthony Albanese received tens of millions of dollars in donations and advertising from unions for his election campaign.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association injected nearly $3m cash into the Labor Party in the past financial year, which included more than $2m in direct donations.

Other major union donors included the United Workers Union ($2.6m), Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union ($2.2m), Australian Manufacturers’ Workers Union ($888,000) and the Mining and Energy Union ($500,000).

Within months of winning government in May, Labor quickly pursued a raft of industrial relations changes including easier access to multi-employer bargaining arrangements, an overhaul that was pushed through parliament despite concerns raised by peak industry groups.

The expansion of paid parental leave to 26 weeks and paid domestic violence leave from five to 10 days were also key measures called for by unions and passed into law.

The new figures were revealed as part of the AEC’s Annual Transparency Register, which requires parties, candidates and related third parties to make public all donations above $14,500 as well as spending in the past financial year.

Independent MPs including Curtin MP Kate Chaney raised transparency concerns over the disclosure process and lobbied for donations to be made public immediately, rather than eight months after the fact.

She warned that nearly $100m in donations under the $14,500 threshold were provided to the major parties and that the public would not know who had provided those funds.

“Voters should know who is funding political candidates before they vote, not eight months later. Today we have seen that last year, the major parties failed to disclose nearly $100m,” Ms Chaney said.

 

“Real-time disclosure of cash donations is not that hard using simple technology.”

Opposition workplace relations Minister Michaelia Cash also raised concerns about unions leveraging their donations through the rest of Labor’s term.

“We are already seeing unions across multiple industries lining up to take advantage of the multi-employer bargaining provisions in that diabolic legislation,’’ Senator Cash said.

“This year, we will see an all-out attack on flexible working arrangements, the gig economy and the labour hire system. What will happen is the cost of doing business will rise and businesses will not survive.”

The annual disclosures revealed unions also donated smaller amounts to the Greens, with the party receiving $140,000 from the CEPU Plumbing Division and $250,000 from the Electrical Plumbing Division.

Overall, the ALP raked in more than $124m into its coffers followed closely by the Coalition which received over $117m. But, the Coalition outspent Labor by almost $15m, racking up nearly $131m in overall payments compared to $116m by Labor.

On top of direct payments to the Labor Party, the country’s largest and most powerful unions declared millions of dollars in election spending on advertising, staff, and other payments.

Left-wing activist group GetUp spent more than $4m on campaign spending, with the organisation’s largest donation coming from fast food chain Guzman y Gomez.