Political donations data highlights need for reform to ensure fair elections
The Australian Electoral Commission today released data revealing how much each political party and campaigners spent in the 2019 Federal election, and the donations used to fund those campaigns.
The disclosures reveal Clive Palmer donated almost $84 million from his company Mineralogy Pty Ltd to his own election campaign, dwarfing all other donations. The next biggest donation was $4.1 million to the Liberal party from Sugolena Pty Ltd, a company linked with Sydney property owner and arts philanthropist Isaac Wakil. The largest donation to the ALP was $3 million from the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union National Office. Large union donations are drawn from pooled small members’ fees.
Alice Drury, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, says this data shows that reforms to make Australian elections fairer are desperately needed.
“Whether rich or poor, everyone should feel empowered to have a say on issues that matter to them at election time. This data shows that in reality, the bigger your bank balance, the bigger your megaphone. And that instead of representing our interests, our politicians are beholden to the big donors who fund their campaigns.”
“Australia lags far behind other countries when it comes to regulating money in politics. The reforms we need are clear. We need limits on donations to politicians and more public funding, so that politicians answer to us and not their big benefactors. We also need limits on election spends, so rich people can’t far outspend everyone else.”
The data, released today, comes 8 months after the 2019 election.
“Donors give big donations to politicians in order to influence their decisions. It’s outrageous that we don’t know when and from where politicians get their money until well after election day. Real-time disclosure of donations would significantly improve transparency of who is paying for politicians’ election campaigns.”
Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Communications Director, Human Rights Law Centre, 0419 100 519