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Key Points
- Mining magnate Clive Palmer donated more than $7 million to the political party he founded.
- The ‘big four’ consulting firms gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the major parties.
- The Australian Democracy Network highlighted that nearly a quarter of all donations came from undisclosed sources.
The register shows Mineralogy, the mining company owned by Palmer, donated $7,088,867 to the United Australia Party in 2022/23.
Ernst & Young donated $227,853, with more than three-fourths of that going to Labor. Deloitte donated $177,126 and KPMG $163,200, both slightly favouring Labor.
In 2022, the most recent federal election year, spending reached a record high of almost $440 million, and the top five individual donors contributed 70 per cent of all donations.
Australia Institute director Bill Browne said there was limited time for changes relating to political donations to come into effect ahead of the next federal election. Source: AAP / Supplied
A similar analysis by the Australian Democracy Network also highlighted that nearly a quarter of all donations, about $50 million, came from undisclosed sources.
“These lags and other loopholes make it difficult to see how politicians and political parties are being funded and by whom.”
“This is a wake-up call that 2024 is the last chance for meaningful democratic reform ahead of the 2025 election,” he said.
