Leaked emails reveal how much it costs to dine with Albanese and senior MPs

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his ministers are charging businesses tens of thousands of dollars to obtain privileged access to the Labor frontbench, even as the federal government prepares to restrict political donations under long-awaited reforms.

This masthead has obtained copies of 40 invitations sent to members of the Federal Labor Business Forum – one of the party’s key fundraising vehicles – over the past year, which reveal the chance to hobnob with Albanese at a boardroom lunch or dinner typically costs $5000 per person.

Labor’s Jim Chalmers, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are high-profile fundraisers for the ALP. Credit: Marija Ercegovac

The cost of a meal with a member of the ministry ranges from $1500 to $4000, giving businesses access to ministers who oversee key areas of the economy including health, mining and financial services.

A table for eight people plus a VIP guest, typically a minister, can cost up to $18,000, while a table for 10 without a VIP guest costs up to $16,000. Tickets cost $1000-$2000 less for members of Labor’s business forum.

The 40 invitations to various fundraising events were sent out over the year from October 30, 2023, and would be likely to have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the federal ALP on top of the membership fees that organisations pay to the forum.

If those membership fees, which are disclosed on the electoral commission’s website for 2022-23, are added together, it would have taken a minimum of $3.8 million.

Labor’s planned donations reform, which it promised in the wake of the 2022 election, include a cap on the amount a candidate can receive, and a limit on how much a party can spend per electorate.

But the party’s business forum technically does not solicit donations under current electoral law, instead taking in money in exchange for memberships and event tickets. How that will be treated under the planned laws, which have not been released, is unclear.

Former judge Anthony Whealy, KC, said the Centre for Public Integrity he chairs had campaigned for years against political fundraising functions because they paired large sums of money with scant transparency.

“As always, the federal parliament is lagging behind the states in terms of donations reform,” Whealy said. “Just the idea of paying these enormous sums of money to have dinner with politicians is unedifying. It means very wealthy people have access to politicians and ordinary people can’t afford it. It looks bad, it is bad, and it is anti-democratic.”

The details of Labor’s sophisticated business-focused fundraising operations comes as the party prepares to bring much-delayed new laws that will tighten the rules on political donations next month, and as the major parties gear up for a federal election that must be held by May next year.

Membership of the forum has four tiers from $33,000 to $110,000 per year, according to The Australian Financial Review, and entitles the member to tickets to events such as an annual budget dinner and policy briefings with ministers.

Members in 2022-23 number more than 70, including consultancies Deloitte and KPMG, retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers, lobby group the Pharmacy Guild, gambling company Sportsbet and mining giant Fortescue.

Some events feature Labor’s entire economics team: Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh. Others include the entire ministry.

A two-day event held last August, the Federal Labor Business Exchange offers a program that “provides delegates with a unique opportunity to receive briefings on major policy areas and network with federal ministers and ALP representatives” and costs $12,000 per person, or $9000 for forum members.

The 2024 federal budget proved particularly lucrative, with a dinner attended by Albanese, Chalmers, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and other members of the ministry costing $5000, while a separate “Standing Networking Dinner” was held on the same evening with Albanese, Gallagher and backbench MP Sam Rae on hand. Tickets cost $1500 per person.

The ministerial events are held in capital cities across the country, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

State and federal branches of the Liberal Party hold similar events that target the corporate sector to raise funds for the party.

Whealy said Labor had had more than two years to push through its donations changes, such as a lower threshold for donations disclosure and to broaden the definition of what constitutes a gift to a political party. Special Minister of State Don Farrell has promised to lower the threshold to $1000, from the current level of $16,300.

Instead, those changes had been parked while the government worked through more complicated changes to caps on spending and donations, Whealy said.

“There is a proposal to put caps on donations and campaign spending. We are concerned that this will unfairly treat independents, or people who want to become independents,” he said.

The prime minister’s office, Farrell’s office and the federal ALP did not respond to requests for comment.

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