As the constitutional lawyer George Williams said a few years ago:“We have donations laws you could drive a truck through”. That truck just got bigger.
Billionaire Conservative Party donor Michael Hintze sponsored an Australia Day party hosted by our new man in London,Stephen Smith.
Unlike the states,there is no federal cap on donations to political parties by individuals,which can result in the party with the biggest chequebook wins.
Australia’s wealthiest individuals and biggest companies poured cash into political parties last year in a boost led by mining billionaire Clive Palmer.
Clive Palmer is the biggest single funding source for political donations over two decades,but unions,Liberal foundations also make the top 10.
A WAtoday analysis of annual returns reveals several examples of donations to political parties from companies which had significant dealings with governments in the past 18 months.
This year the Labor and Liberal parties collectively recorded $11.7 million in unattributed donations and gifts,known colloquially as “dark money”.
Under current laws,the identity of whoever donated $1 million to the No campaign will not be known until six months after the vote.
The electoral commission says it won’t compromise or rush its investigation into whether political donations laws were breached by Matthew Guy’s former chief of staff,Mitch Catlin.
Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio insists there is no conflict of interest in the tender process for the state’s $500 million container deposit scheme.
Recycling and packaging giant Visy,run by billionaire Anthony Pratt,is one of a handful of firms in the running to operate the state’s container deposit scheme.