Australia’s largest donors revealed: Discover the millions funding politicians

1 Feb 2019

Photo: Chilla Bulbeck is a convener of the Western Australian Greens. (Supplied: YouTube)

West Australian Greens convener Chilla Bulbeck donated almost $600,000 of her inheritance to the Greens last year, making her Australia’s largest individual political donor.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has released donation information for the 2017-18 period, the final glimpse into donations the public will receive prior to this year’s election.

Professor Bulbeck, previously chair of women’s studies at Adelaide University and a former Greens candidate, contributed more than any other individual donor — almost $600,000 across 11 separate donations to the WA Greens.

She said her father, Paul Bulbeck, left more money than anticipated and her share would go towards buying a new headquarters for the party’s new fundraising arm in Western Australia.

“He had always been very committed to a better world and progressive causes, so it seemed to me a fitting way to express his desire by giving the money to my progressive cause,” she said.

“My father thought he would have very little money. As he always used to say, ‘I want to drink my last martini when I take my last breath’.

“He knew I was very committed to The Greens and said he was very proud of me for that, so I felt I was expressing his will in a contemporary political framework.”

Overall, donations were down compared to the preceding period. That was to be expected given this was the first full period after the 2016 federal election, however state elections prompted funding spikes.

The national branch of the Labor Party received $11.5 million in funding, compared with $33 million in 2016-17, while the federal Liberals tallied $5.6 million, down from almost $37 million in the previous year.

More than $16 million in donations and other receipts were lodged by Queensland Labor — more than twice its tally for 2016-17 — and $15.4 million for the Queensland LNP — up by around $4 million.

Major donors revealed

The Michael Crouch Foundation was the Liberal Party’s biggest formal donor, contributing $350,000 in total based on an analysis of donors’ disclosures.

But an entity linked to the Liberal Party, known as Vapold Pty Ltd, gave $2.3 million to the Victorian Liberals.

The Victorian branch of the Electrical Trades Union pledged more than $1 million to the ALP, and another $200,000 to the Victorian Greens.

Australian Hotels Association (SA Branch), Australian Hotels Association (NSW), PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association, Australian Hotels Association Tasmanian Hospitality Association, Macquarie Group Limited and Waratah Group (Australia) Pty Ltd all pledged at least $250,000.

Australia’s banks continued to donate to major political parties as calls for a royal commission intensified, and it was eventually announced in December 2017.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris donated $56,500 to the Nationals and $40,000 to the Liberal Democrats.

A key lobbyist for Australia’s tough anti-piracy laws, Village Roadshow, donated a total of $163,144 to both major parties.

Only donations above $13,500 were required to be disclosed in 2017-18.

Despite calls from the crossbench during debate on the foreign integrity laws, the major parties refused to entertain changes to either the donation threshold or the timeliness of disclosures.

That means the 2017-18 data released on Friday is the final glimpse into political donations before the election this year.

Labor plans to reduce the threshold to $1,000 if it wins the election, and plans to investigate the possibility of real-time or near real-time disclosure.

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