Bill Shorten’s ‘$26m BCA war chest’ claim fails to add up

Bill Shorten is peddling an unverified estimate to attack the BCA, claiming it is using a $26m war chest to “buy” the election for the Liberals.

 

Bill Shorten has peddled an unverified estimate to attack the Business Council of Australia, claiming it is using a corporate war chest of $26 million to “buy” the next federal election for the Liberal Party.

Turnbull government ministers yesterday attacked the Opposition Leader over the claim, accusing Labor of free-riding on the political campaigning efforts of unions and left-wing activist group GetUp! while condemning business for attempting to engage with the community.

The $26m figure cited by Mr Shorten is inaccurate. The BCA funding drive, aimed at promoting two television advertisements for its Australia at Work campaign that are yet to air, is expected to fall short of the total.

Each of the BCA’s 130 members has been asked to contribute to the campaign, which is not related to the government’s proposed corporate tax cuts. The Australian can reveal that — contrary to an ABC report this week that each member had been asked to contribute $200,000, making a total of $26m — there are different amounts for different companies based on their capacity to pay.

It is understood that some companies, including ANZ, are not making a contribution to the Australia at Work campaign, which is aimed at trying to counter anti-business sentiment in the community.

Mr Shorten yesterday escalated his assault on the fundraising efforts of the BCA, saying it was using its “big scary warchest” of $26m to secure a reduction in the corporate tax rate. His office declined to respond to questions about how he arrived at the $26m figure.

Mr Shorten used the same number GetUp! had earlier referenced to try to raise revenue from supporters to “help take on the business lobby” as it warned against the BCA’s “destructive neoliberal agenda”. “If we can raise just a portion of the BCA’s $26m, we can turbocharge our people-powered ­organising efforts for the next election … and start winning the fight against destructive corporate power,” GetUp! said in a statement.

Mr Shorten’s depiction of the BCA funding drive as an attempt to “influence” democracy and “buy the Australian election” was savaged by Workplace Minister Craig Laundy, who provided government figures showing that Labor received more than $6m from unions in 2016-17 and $21m since 2014. Mr Shorten’s ­office did not dispute the figures last night.

The Australian can also reveal the annual reports of left-wing ­activist group GetUp! showed it spent more than $25m on political campaigns over the past three years, including on its targeted campaigns against conservative MPs at the last federal election.

The union push to overhaul workplace laws through its Change the Rules push, spearheaded by ACTU secretary Sally McManus, has also been touted as the labour movement’s most expensive advertising campaign since the Your Rights at Work campaign, which helped to unseat John Howard in 2007.

An ACTU spokesman refused to reveal the cost of the campaign.

“The union movement will ­devote whatever resources are necessary to deliver more secure jobs and fair pay rises for working people,” the spokesman said.

Mr Laundy argued that the amount of funds that the BCA proposed to raise was small compared with the levels of funding coming to Labor from the trifecta of “big business, unions and GetUp!”.

“Bill Shorten claims to stand up for workers, but the record shows during his time as a union leader he was only too happy to do deals with big business and sign away workers’ rights to weekend penalty rates,” Mr Laundy said.

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar told The Australian that Mr Shorten’s comments exposed him as “nothing more than old-­fashioned union bully”.