Labor’s biggest individual donor ‘can’t recall’ his contribution

The single biggest individual donor to the NSW Labor Party cannot remember giving $110,000.

The single biggest individual donor to the NSW Labor Party, according to Australian Electoral Commission donations figures released yesterday, cannot remember giving $110,000.

Contacted about his donation, Eng Joo Ang asked: “To which party?”

Mr Ang, an executive vice-president of a Chinese reconciliation organisation, the Australian Council for the Peaceful Reunification of China, asked what date the donation had been made. He said he had made many donations: “I got Liberal, I got Labor.”

Although the ALP listed him as providing its largest single ­donation from an individual, Mr Ang does not appear to have lodged a declaration with the Australian Electoral Commission. He said he might have made the donation on behalf of the ­association.

Later, he said he had checked and had not made the donation. He could not explain why Labor had declared it. Mr Ang, who said he was “semi-retired”, was reluctant to describe his profession, saying “It’s a long story”.

The Australian Council for the Peaceful Reunification of China describes its aims as “not only to foster and facilitate peaceful dialogue amongst the communities and organisations for the peaceful reunification of China, but also to encourage economic and cultural exchanges between Australia and China”.

It has a high-profile list of patrons, including Bob Carr, Philip Ruddock, Chris Bowen, Sam Dastyari and former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.

Its president is Xiangmo Huang, the chairman of Chinese property developer Yuhu Group, which has employed former deputy premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner and former Labor treasurer Eric Roozendaal.

Mr Huang gave $1.8 million to the University of Technology Sydney to establish the Australia China Relations Institute, which is chaired by Mr Carr.

Australian Electoral Commission returns show the Yuhu Group gave $15,000 to the NSW Liberal Party in 2014-15.

Yuhu has been a massive donor to political parties in the past, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Labor.

Under NSW electoral laws, donations from property devel­opers are banned, but they are ­allowed under federal electoral legislation.

The AEC returns cover the ­period of last year’s state election. They show that Labor finances are dominated by union don­ations, while both major parties have become heavily dependent on public funding of elections.

Labor declared $340,000 from branches of the SDA, $126,000 from CFMEU divisions, $81,630 from the ETU, $63,000 from the FSU, and $55,00 from the CPSU.

These were declared not as ­donations but as “other receipts”, suggesting they were affiliation fees or other contributions.

The declaration of the NSW Liberal Party showed that the branch had $10m of debts, including a $7m loan from Westpac.