Tasmanian Liberals declare $4.1 million in political donations
UPDATED: Tasmanian political donations have been declared — but a huge amount remains secret because of the state’s archaic electoral laws.
Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
UPDATED: REVELATIONS the that the state Liberals and Labor did not declare the source of more than three-quarters of their donations last financial year have prompted fresh calls for an overhaul of the state’s electoral laws.
The Tasmanian Liberals declared more than $4 million in donations in 2017-18 — four times the amount of Labor, and 10 times that of the Greens.
However, the Liberals declared the source of only $925,159 of their takings.
Under Commonwealth donation laws, which Tasmania follows, only the source of donations above $13,500 have to be declared by the recipient.
Donations do not have to be aggregated by the recipient, meaning if a person or group makes multiple donations below the threshold their name will not appear on a party’s returns. Individual donors are required to aggregate their funds and declare them separately.
Tasmania was last year labelled Australia’s least transparent state in rankings done by the Grattan Institute.
ANALYSIS: VOTERS BEING PLAYED FOR MUGS
Australian Electoral Commission analysis published yesterday show at least $541,100 was tipped into Liberal coffers by hospitality and gambling interests, including $281,750 across several arms of the Australian Hotels Association.
That group’s state branch, the Tasmanian Hospitality Association, benefited from an election pledge worth $6.8m across four years that the Liberals’ own policy said would have the party “join forces” with the body “on several key initiatives”.
The Liberals were backed by hotels and gaming groups after Labor pledged to quarantine poker machines to pubs and clubs by 2023. The monopoly poker machine licence — held by Federal Group, which gave the Liberals $50,000 — is up for negotiation this year.
Labor declared $1.1m in donations for 2017-18, mostly from unions. The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union made the single largest donation of $146,425. Labor declared the source of $245,328.
The Greens declared $424,806, with $107,167 of that above the declaration threshold. The party declares its donations on its website in real time, with high-end gambler Duncan Turpie giving $50,000 last financial year.
Liberal Party state director Sam McQuestin said the bulk of the donations his party received that were below the declaration threshold were from small business people and families. He said the figures “should end once and for all the pathetic claims from Labor and the Greens that they were ‘robbed’ of the last election”.
Premier Will Hodgman said: “Tasmanians should not be fooled by the absurd claims from those that were not successful at the election.”
Among the party’s individual donors was Braddon Liberal MHA Adam Brooks, who was sent to the backbench after an Integrity Commission investigation found he lied to the Premier about his use of work emails while a minister.
MORE:
EDITORIAL: ACT NOW ON DONATION LAWS
HEAT ON POLITICAL DONATION REVAMP
The Opposition, Greens, Clark (formerly Denison) independent MHR Andrew Wilkie and anti-pokies groups did not buy the Liberals’ claim.
Mr Wilkie lashed the Liberals for accepting “blood money” from “the parasites in the poker machine industry”, calling for the donation threshold to be dramatically lowered, donations to be aggregated and in-kind campaigns and adverts to be declared as gifts.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said there was “dark money” that was not declared before last year’s election.
“There’s an absolute lack of transparency — around $3 million that was given to the Liberal Party to help them win an election — and of course these are just the donations that we know about,” she said. “They don’t count the money that was poured into supporting a Liberal win by the Federal Group, they don’t count the money that went into the Love Your Local campaign.”
Labor has called for electoral donation reform but did not declare their donations yesterday when asked.
Party state secretary Stuart Benson said Labor had met the requirements of the law.
“Tasmanian Labor has been participating in the Electoral Act Review where we have been arguing for a disclosure threshold of $1000 for candidates, political parties, real-time disclosure of donations and expenditure caps,” he said.
Submissions to the Government’s review of the Electoral Act close in a fortnight.
Mr McQuestin said: “The disclosure of almost all of the contributions from so-called gaming interests demonstrates that the current disclosure system is working well despite ridiculous conspiracy theories pedalled by our opponents.”
The Government did not respond when asked whether this was its position.
EARLIER: THE source of more than three-quarters of the $4.1 million in donations the Tasmanian Liberals received in the last financial year — the same year the party won the state election — has not been declared.
The state’s Labor Party received $1.1 million in donations in the same year with only $245,328 of that traced back to a source — all unions.
And the Greens declared $424,806 but only $107,167 of that was above the declaration threshold.
The bulk of the Liberals’ cash came from hospitality groups, including about $270,000 from the Tasmanian Hospitality Association and $50,000 from Federal Group.
The party received a strong backing from hotels and gaming interests during the March state election after Labor vowed to confine poker machines to casinos by 2023.
Braddon Liberal MHA Adam Brooks, who was permanently sent to the backbench late last year after an Integrity Commission investigation found he had lied to the Premier about his use of work emails while mining minister, donated $50,000 to the party. He had been under investigation since 2016.
The Health and Community Services Union, Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union donated to the Labor Party, with the latter union the single largest donor. The party’s national arm also donated.
The Greens received funding from their national office, $50,000 from left-wing gambler Duncan Turpie and $6000 from Wotif founder Graeme Wood.
The source of donations above $13,500 has to be declared, but anything below that threshold can remain hidden.
Donations do not have to be aggregated, meaning that if a person or group were to make multiple donations below the threshold their name would not be shown.
The Grattan Institute has labelled Tasmania the nation’s least transparent state.
The Government is examining the Electoral Act.
MORE OF TODAY’S NEWS
Where 10,000 homes could be built under new plans
The Tasmanian government is proposing to pave the way for property developers to build almost 10,000 new homes in the outlying suburbs of Greater Hobart. Here’s where it could go.
Bookies reveal favourite in critical federal battle for Lyons
Bookmakers have backed an early favourite to win the pivotal seat of Lyons as Liberal candidate Susie Bower and her high-profile Labor opponent Rebecca White are set to face-off.