Lord Mayor Sally Capp’s election campaign backed by billionaires and blue-bloods

A who’s who of Melbourne’s blue-blood elite financially backed Sally Capp’s campaign to become the city’s new Lord Mayor.

City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp.

A who’s who of Melbourne’s blue-blood elite financially backed Sally Capp’s campaign to become the city’s new Lord Mayor, new donation documents revealed.

The Lord Mayor’s campaign received donations of up to $20,000 from some of Australia’s most powerful families including the Pratts and the family of trucking magnate Lindsay Fox.

Other big names on Ms Capp’s list include Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer, former Western Mining boss Hugh Morgan, and the catering company of ex-Real Housewife of Melbourne Chyka Keebaugh.

Ms Capp’s campaign totalled $335,707 in donations from 100 donors. The winner of this May’s Lord Mayoral by-election was miles ahead of her rivals in terms of donations.

As former head of the Victoria’s Property Council, Ms Capp promised not to take money from property developers, but the donations list released yesterday features property agents, architects, builders, and a development company director.

“The Sally Capp campaign was supported from businesses and individuals from all walks of life,” a spokeswoman for Ms Capp’s campaign said.

“As promised, Capp did not accept support from property developers … While there may be some people on the campaign donation list who have an association through family or business that fits this description, the individual does not fit that definition.”

Ms Capp is on holiday in Italy for two weeks but told reporters before she left that she would be closely watching City of Melbourne matters. She is five weeks into the role.

Fox family scions David and Paula Fox donated $10,000 each to Capp’s campaign. The Australian’s Margin Call revealed last week that Ms Capp and her husband were partners with David Fox in a series of vending machine companies.

Mr Fox is also a director in the Foxes’ Linfox Property Group which is developing a 20-story residential tower on St Kilda Road. The Fox family is overseas and were unavailable for comment.

The business enterprise of Australia’s richest family the Pratts, worth $12.9 billion are on Capp’s list too via their Pratt Holding, as is their billionaire packaging son-in-law Alex Waislitz, whose worth is estimated at $1.24 billion.

A spokesman for Westpac chief Brian Hartzer confirmed he made a personal donation to the Capp campaign. Mr Hartzer and Ms Capp are close friends and former colleagues, another sign of the Lord Mayor’s many connections in both the political and business worlds.

From the conservative side of politics, businessman and Cormack Foundation director Hugh Morgan is on Ms Capp’s donor list, fresh from his battle with party president Michael Kroger.

Kroger’s former wife and now Crown spokeswoman Ann Peacock, herself a mooted candidate for the mayoral election, also helped Ms Capp with cash.

John Elliott’s daughter Caroline Elliott was a supporter too, as was Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s ex-wife Debbie Beale.

From the Labor Party, former Hawke-Keating minister Ros Kelly donated $20,000. She is Ms Capp’s aunt by marriage.

Greens councillor, and Ms Capp’s competitor in the by-election, Rohan Leppert said the donors list proved wealth and power determined who controlled Melbourne’s Town Hall.

“Nothing surprises me (about the list of donors) … this is proof that this system for lord mayor franchises wealth over anything else. Our elections are getting less and less democratic,” he said.