There were over 100 community leaders from around Australia and representatives of 30 media publications at the multicultural community forum with Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services …
âHidden moneyâ: $50m flows in secret political donations
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The nationâs major political parties took in $50 million in donations from unknown sources last financial year, with new analysis showing 30 per cent of all income amounts to âhidden moneyâ.
Using newly released Australian Electoral Commission data, the watchdog group, the Centre for Public Integrity, found that $1.2 billion in gifts and donations from unknown sources has been received since 1998-99.
âReform is needed now so that the funding of the coming election is transparent,â says Centre for Public Integrity chairman Anthony Whealy. Â
Peter Rae
Chairman Anthony Whealy, QC, said the figures show the integrity of Australiaâs political system could be at risk.
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The federal Labor Party will consider banning donations from Crown in light of a NSW report that found the company enabled money-laundering by criminals at its Melbourne casino.
The company, which runs casinos in Melbourne and Perth, donated $1.78 million to federal political candidates in the past 10 years, with $550,000 of that money going to candidates from Victorian political parties since 2010 and $875,000 to candidates from WA.
A NSW judicial found there was âno doubtâ money laundering had occurred at Crownâs Melbourne casino.
Credit:Scott McNaughton
Crown was the 13th largest donor to federal politicians in the previous financial year, with an outlay of $184,000.
Twiggy, Clive, Gina: Which political parties did the mining billionaires favour in 2020?
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Every year the Australian Electoral Commission releases a trove of financial declarations detailing some of the millions in political donations being made to the nationâs political parties.
A deep dive by
WAtoday into the latest data highlights where the stateâs billionaires and resources companies directed funds in 2019-20, as well as the historic trends from several industries over the past two decades.
Companies run by Andrew Forrest, Clive Palmer, and Gina Rinehart all featured in the 2019-20 political donations and receipts release by the Australian Electoral Commission.
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The Liberals and Nationals have gained a lead in the financial race to prepare for the next election by collecting $69 million in total donation receipts last year compared to $55 million for Labor.
The donations came from business backers including packaging billionaire Anthony Pratt and mining magnate Sally Zou, who gave $203,000 to the Liberals even when her Ausgold Mining company went into administration.
Michael McCormack’s Nationals and Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party have the lead in donations over Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But the Liberals returned a $33,800 donation from Beirut company Dar Group, seen as a hostile bidder for Australian engineering company Worley.