ELEANOR HALL: The Australian Electoral Commission has today released its data on political donations for the last financial year, and they show that the Coalition far outstripped the Labor Party in the fundraising stakes.
There are some surprisingly large corporate donations as well as significant spending by individual donors, including the new MP Clive Palmer. But the returns don't reveal how much was given to political parties in the final months before the 2013 federal election.
In Canberra, Naomi Woodley reports.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The information released by the Australian Electoral Commission covers the 2012-13 financial year, so it doesn't take into account the final months of fundraising in the lead-up to the September election.
But it does show that the Coalition was receiving more money than any other political party as it sought to move from Opposition to Government.
Big corporate donors are present in the declarations of both major parties: the chicken and turkey producers Inghams enterprises found $250,000 each for Labor and the Liberals. The retail giant Westfield Limited gave $150,000 each, and ANZ bank gave $80,000 to both parties.
One of the ALP's biggest single donations - $100,000 - came from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. And the data also shows that the Coalition continued to receive donations from the tobacco company Phillip Morris. It gave $107,000 to various branches of the Liberal and National parties.
But there are some large individual donations too. Roslyn Packer from the famous media family gave $570,000 to the Liberal Party of Australia. Just weeks before his own political party was registered with the AEC, Clive Palmer donated $42,000 to the Liberal National Party of Queensland.
The Greens say total donations to all political parties, including theirs, are up over 120 per cent based on the previous financial year. The Greens' spokeswoman is Lee Rhiannon.
LEE RHIANNON: The political donations to parties in Australia has hit a record, and this is the financial year before the federal election, it doesn't include the final two months when we know a lot more money comes in.
But already it was coming in at a record $30 million, with the bulk of that going to Labor and the Coalition, who were picking up more than $13 million each.
NAOMI WOODLEY: We do know, though, that at that point, everyone knew when the federal election was going to be held because the then-prime minister Julia Gillard had had named a date. Do you think that might have skewed those results somewhat?
LEE RHIANNON: It may have but it's certainly a very large amount of money, and the bulk of it being corporate donations. And this does turn people off the political process. I find when these large amounts of money are handed over by corporate Australia, the public often become very cynical; they don't think that they have much influence, and a lot of people then become quite angry about this.
NAOMI WOODLEY: We've also seem some significant personal donations as well, so it's not just the influence of corporate Australia, is it?
LEE RHIANNON: Yes, but when Gina Rinehart gives $55,000 to the ALP and nearly $100,000 to the Nationals*, Lachlan Murdoch gives $22,000 to the Liberals, they may be giving money as individuals, but it's certainly seen in a corporate sense. What's the difference between them signing the cheque personally or if it comes from their company in terms of how it's viewed. It's not viewed that it's healthy for democracy.
NAOMI WOODLEY: Those two in particular are listed "other receipts" rather than straight donations. Can you talk me through the difference there?
LEE RHIANNON: This is an issue that the Greens have taken up with the Australian Electoral Commission many times, that we need to have clearer definitions, because "other receipts" can be things like fundraising events.
Now, what's the difference between a donation that's written as a cheque and money to attend a fundraiser, where you might spend thousands of dollars to go to a dinner, a fundraising dinner? Clearly the dinner doesn't cost thousands of dollars, so the Greens have always argued that should be seen as a donation.
So, in many cases, there's not a real difference here.
NAOMI WOODLEY: This data of course, as you've said, doesn't take into account those final months before the federal election which was held in September, and we won't see that data until about a year from now. What can be done; or is it practical for that information to be released any earlier?
LEE RHIANNON: This information could be released much more quickly. The bulk of it is entered electronically into spreadsheets. That information should be able to go up very quickly onto the AEC and possibly the party websites as well, so people could see where the money is coming from as we come into an election.
Having to wait well over a year in many cases to find out where the money came from, that was used to fund political parties for an election campaign, is not transparent, and it's not helpful to people's engagement with politics.
ELEANOR HALL: That's the Greens senator Lee Rhiannon speaking to Naomi Woodley in Canberra.
EDITOR'S NOTE: (4 February 2014): A spokesman for Mrs Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd says she does not control the company behind the political donations to the ALP. According to the spokesman, Mrs Rinehart did not direct Hancock Coal Pty Ltd to donate to the Labor Party and the company did so without her prior knowledge.
The full story...
Big jump in political donations
Naomi Woodley reported this story on Monday, February 3, 2014 12:14:00
