February 1 2021

The most recent AEC donations disclosures confirm the need for urgent reform of our
political finance system. The data shows that big donors are dominating the funding of
our political parties, with 46% of all donations coming from just 5 donors.

Total donations 2019 – 2020 $18,020,970

Biggest donors

  1. Mineralogy $5,910,341
  2. Pratt Holdings $1,550,000
  3. Woodside Energy $335,415
  4. Macquarie Group $251,230
  5. Australian Hotel Association $232,301
    Top 5 total donations $8,279,287
    Percentage of total donations for 2019-20 45.94%

Party totals

  1. Australian Labor Party $50,708,792
  2. Liberal Party of Australia $46,607,680
  3. Australian Greens $19,170,808
  4. National Party of Australia $12,427,565
  5. Liberal National Party of Queensland $10,393,589
  6. Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party $10,182,222
  7. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation $5,782,105
  8. Country Labor Party $4,358,580
  9. Australian Citizens Party $2,147,894
  10. Animal Justice Party $1,374,791
    Coalition total $59,035,245
    ALP total $50,708,792

“The federal disclosure scheme is mis-named – it is a non-disclosure scheme with more
than a third of political funding shrouded in secrecy,” said Professor Joo Cheong Tham, a
Director of the Centre for Public Integrity.

“The absence of caps on political donations has permitted a handful of donors to dominate the funding of political parties. That the most significant level of government has the weakest political finance laws is a grave weakness of Australian democracy.”

“Caps on election campaign spending are necessary for a level playing field in elections,” said Professor Tham.

For comment Han Aulby 0427 079 729