For several years now Crikey has engaged in the ritual denunciation of our Commonwealth electoral donation laws. It’s worth repeating.
Political donations
Electoral funding figures show Labor’s donations collapse
Labor’s donations advantage vanished at the 2010 election, new data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows.
The Power Index Power Shots: Kroger joins call to ban political donations … it’s prawns, Moet and satire for yachties …
They call him ‘the Pope’, Don Farrell is number six on our list of Political Fixers. Also Michael Yabsley gets the backing of Liberal Party grandee Michael Kroger over banning political donations, it’s prawns, Moet and satire for the yachties at Hamilton and Phil Green’s chance to give back.
The Power Index: Yabsley says ‘ban political donations’
Former Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley, who has raised millions of dollars to fund Liberal election campaigns, has called for a complete ban on political donations by big business, trade unions and property developers.
What WAS Bronwyn Bishop smoking?
The tobacco industry is unlike any other donor as its products kill people – but this has not stopped all parties from accepting their generous donations. And it didn’t stop Bronwyn Bishop harassing witnesses at a Joint Standing Committee inquiry last week, writes Anne Jones.
Campaign xenophobia driven by foreign donations ban
Almost everyone in mainstream politics says they oppose xenophobia, but foreigners have few friends among advocates of campaign finance reform, writes Andrew Norton, a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: ALIV’s valuable community programs
Crikey readers have their say.
The political donations data is nowhere near the full picture
The material released this week by the Electoral Commission only gives a partial picture of who is funding our political parties.
Miners big on donations, but not on disclosure
Several companies and individuals have been identified in Liberal and Labor documents as making donations, but were not recorded on the AEC website as having made any returns, as they’re required to do.
Political donations: SA and Tassie rolling in election dough
Political donations data released by the Australian Electoral Commission yesterday shows a multi-million jump in donations for South Australia and Tasmania — the two states that held elections over the audit period.
Rhiannon: the hidden millions in political donations
Comparing the AEC data for NSW with the disclosures to the NSW Election Funding Authority (EFA) reveals some interesting trends in political donating and underlines the need for far reaching political funding reform, writes Lee Rhiannon, a Greens NSW Senator-elect.
Mining the donations: Palmer returns as $1 million Tory sugar daddy
Billionaire Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer ratcheted up his political donations to the conservative side of politics to over $1 million in 2009-10, despite the Liberal Party declaring his cash persona non grata mid-way through the audit period, according to data released by the Australian Electoral Commission this morning.
Political donations give and take
The Australian Electoral Commission released political donations data today for 2009-10, giving us an insight into what political parties received from donors between 7 and 19 months ago.
Mayne on donations: Vic Libs still richest political division in the country
The Victorian Liberals clearly remain the richest political division in the country. No one else can claim to own $50 million worth of shares.
Big Tobacco not just in Liberal pockets — Crikey reveals the Labor links
The Coalition has been exposed this week for its links to Big Tobacco. But Labor members are no clean-skins when it comes to accepting cash from the cigarette industry.
Crikey Says: How do we get the full picture on political donations? We can’t
How much money is the federal Coalition receiving from the mining industry as part of its campaign against the RSPT?
Have we outsourced our politics?
The days of mass-membership political parties are over. Instead, it seems like we’ve decided to outsource politics to a new class: professional politicians.
Brumby’s poor disclosure over donations and jobs for relatives
While there are literally hundreds of examples of politicians either employing their relatives or having party colleagues take them on, very few have reached the scale of Victorian Premier John Brumby’s family.
Political donations drought: cash levels fall by 60%
Are we witnessing the drying up of political donations? Total political donations of $93.7 million fell 60% last year. Plus some of the more interesting donors uncovered by Crikey readers.
Democracy, South Australian style
SA Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has changed the rules of democracy in the state, explains Hendrik Gout: you can’t make an anonymous political comment on a blog, but you can make an anonymous donation to the ALP.
Influential or not? Big political donors show how it’s done
Despite a big drop in political donations in 2008-09, the AEC figures released yesterday still show how influence works — and fails to work — in Canberra. Even if the data isn’t that surprising.
Mayne digs some donations data dirt
The annual deluge of political donations data was dropped by the AEC today, containing a stack of interesting revelations. Stephen Mayne sifts through the dirt.
The corporates that helped Bligh, Barnett to power
The release of this morning’s Australian Electoral Commission’s “periodic disclosures” data paint a vivid picture of who bankrolled the two state elections that occurred in the 2008/09 financial year.
