Would you spend close to $30,000 for a chance to rub shoulders with those in charge of Western Australia?
Key points:
- Most of the millions donated to WA political parties is shrouded in secrecy
- Donors deny they're seeking influence over policy
- But 'cash for access' is how some characterise it
Or thousands to dine with a federal minister?
Those with cash to splash have been doing just that. And a legal loophole is protecting their identities — meaning we may never know who is paying for access to the highest levels of government.
It's resulted in the state political arena being filled with "dark money" worth millions of dollars.
According to its annual returns, the WA Labor Party failed to declare the source of 75 per cent of the $6.7 million it received in the 2022-23 financial year.
And the Liberal Party isn't saying where more than half of the $4.7 million it received came from.
Minor parties are equally opaque, with the WA Nationals not disclosing who contributed any of the $420,000 it raised last financial year.
While the WA Greens declared the sources of $243,000 it raised, it also listed $1.3 million as "other income", although a spokeswoman confirmed most of this was from the Australian Electoral Commission.
The Greens follow an internal policy of disclosing any sum of more than $1,500.
What do donors get for their money?
Both major parties have fundraising enterprises that centre on lavish dinners, where a ticket literally buys you a seat at the government table.
Labor raised almost $1.6 million through its Labor Business Roundtable (LBR), which lets members attend intimate, catered events attended by senior members of government.
Neither Mr Cook nor deputy premier Rita Saffioti would disclose how many times they had participated in such events.
And the money raised is not classified as donations by the party, which instead calls them "other receipts" in its returns.
WA Labor assistant secretary Lauren Cayoun described the roundtable scheme as a "business engagement program" which provided participants with "opportunities to network and receive feedback".
Other donations were made directly to the party, though donors were often reluctant to classify their contributions to party coffers as donations.
"Non-cash contributions" for "facilitating discussion and the exchange of ideas" was how consulting firm Deloittes characterised the money it gave
“We do not use political donations to gain favour with government or political parties," a spokesperson said.
Fellow tax consultant EY said it contributed to Labor "as part of our engagement with policy makers", but also denied its cash was a donation.
As well as money from consultants, donations Labor was obligated to declare included tens of thousands of dollars from the gambling and pharmaceutical lobbies, property developers and the mining industry, some of which are detailed below.
Donation source | Amount | Government engagement |
|---|---|---|
St Johns WA | $27,500 | Contract negotiations with government |
Gold Valley Brown Stone (mining) | $40,000 | Planning to expand operations |
Satterley Group (property) | $27,680 | Seeking approval for huge Perth Hills housing development |
Programmed (HR, services) | $44,000 | Won tens of millions in government contracts |
A significant amount of the publicly declared cash donated to Labor was from unions.
Liberal fundraising
The Liberal fundraising equivalent is the invite-only 500 Club, which offers guests a chance to dine with federal ministers and raised more than $225,000, although no individual donors have been disclosed..
Party leader Libby Mettam has attended three of these events.
The only donations on the public record came from the Sir Charles Court Foundation ($157,000), and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ($54,532 worth of "gifts in kind").
Both parties justify the secrecy around donations by saying they're complying with the law — but they've been able to file under Commonwealth legislation, which only requires payments of more than $15,200 to be disclosed, instead of $2,600 under the state legislation.
New laws have now been passed to close that loophole, but the changes won't come into effect until later this year.
The reforms will also include a requirement for donations to be publicly disclosed within seven days, or within two days during election campaigns.
'Blatant cash for access'
University of Queensland political law professor Graeme Orr was scathing of the situation.
"Even disclosing [the donations] doesn't get around the stench of the problem," he said.
"These are private sort of clubs where parties are saying 'give us quite a bit of money, business people, and we will give you preferential access to ministers or MPs on front benches'.
"It's blatant selling of cash for access."
Federal member for Curtin Kate Chaney was also concerned about political donations linked to the gambling, tobacco and alcohol industries.
Responsible Wagering Australia – whose members include industry heavyweights bet365, Betfair, Entain, Sportsbet, Pointsbet and Unibet — spent $27,500 on Labor's roundtable fund in the 2022-23 financial year.
A RWA spokeswoman said the group participated in membership forums to "discuss relevant policy matters" .
But Ms Chaney said donations from "social harm" industries should be banned.
"It really undermines community confidence that gambling reform will be implemented in the interests of the community, not in the interests of money and power," she said.
"We know the gambling companies are lobbying really hard to water down any reform that affects the money they make out of this social harm that they create.
"It just doesn't pass the sniff test."
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