Qld election 2020: Union political donations still in LNP sights
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington, if elected premier, hasn’t ruled out putting a stop to a practice that has earned Labor $500,000 in the past few months.
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LNP leader Frecklington has left the door open to banning union donations to political parties if she wins today, as new figures reveal unions have pumped over half a million dollars into Labor coffers in recent months.
Analysis of Electoral Commission of Queensland data has revealed about one in every $3 of declared donations to Labor since the start of the financial year has come from unions, with some totalling tens of thousands of dollars.
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The party’s top five donations between July 1 and October 30 came from unions, including a $43,430 contribution from United Workers Union and $30,000 from the Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union.
About $2 million worth of declared donations have been made to Labor since the beginning of the 2020-21 financial year – but the LNP has still managed to raise significantly more money, with disclosures showing it has received $4.48 million.
Asked if an LNP government would make unions a prohibited political donor, like the Palaszczuk government did with property developers, Opposition Leader Ms Frecklington would not say. Instead, a spokesman from her office said in a statement that the LNP had been calling for a “level playing field on electoral laws”.
“Labor has rammed through a series of electoral law changes designed to advantage them,” he said.
“Unlike Labor, the LNP’s priority is getting Queenslanders working again, not changing the electoral system.”
Quizzed about the union donations, Queensland Labor state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell claimed unions, “like everyone else”, were worried about Ms Frecklington and the “LNP’s jobs cuts”.
“Of course they are supporting a government that has a plan for more jobs, not cuts,” Ms Campbell said.
The State Labor Government introduced a property developer donation ban in 2018 for state elections, following recommendations from the Crime and Corruption Commission that they be imposed on council polls.
The LNP tried to ban union donations at the time.
Originally published as Qld election 2020: Union political donations still in LNP sights