The great annual political donations list
was released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday morning
and, as usual, there are about 50 interesting stories.

Our intrepid political correspondent Christian Kerr has already
driven down to the address of Family First’s biggest donor in South
Australia, the mysterious Hardel Pty Ltd at 255 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, and
discovered the generous benefactor to the tune of $23,000 resides in a
modern business centre with several tenants.

Could it be Johnson & Johnson? We doubt it. Could it be a Job Network provider? Unlikely.

How about a client of an accounting firm called Brentnalls SA.
Getting warmer. Could this be connected to Family First founder Peter
Harris. Certainly looks that way.

You can check out all the figures for yourself here: https://fadar.aec.gov.au/

Below is a list of the biggest donors and we’d love your feedback on
who some of these donors are and why they have given for our coverage
and analysis over the next few days:

Liberal Party (National)

The Free Enterprise Foundation – $265,000
Kingold Group Companies Ltd – $200,000
Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd – $200,000
ANZ
Bank – $150,000 (part of the lucrative government licensed banking
cartel and run by Peter Costello’s close friend John McFarlane)
Meriton Apartments Pty Ltd – $100,000 (Billionaire Harry Trigaboff likes if both ways)
Ramsay
Health Care – $100,000 (The PM’s golf buddy Paul Ramsay has made a
fortune out of private hospitals and his television licences)
Westpac Banking Corporation – $85,000
Coles
Myer Ltd – $75,000 (Why wouldn’t the hugely profitable retailing
duopoly be happy after being allowed to category kill in petrol)
British American Tobacco – $51,500 (used to be chaired by NSW Liberal Premier Nick Greiner)
Australian Catseye Group Pty Ltd – $50,000
Leighton
Holding Limited – $50,000 (out biggest building company needs the Feds
to beat up on building unions and loves all those government contracts)
Monetti Pty Ltd – $50,000
Paspaley Pearl Sales Pty Ltd – $50,000 (needs access to those pearls off Broome for the Japanese from fisheries authorities)
Resmed – $50,000 (sleep disorder outfit. Were there any government grants behind its development?)
Turnbull & Partners – $39,120 (Malcolm putting his money where his mouth was as Liberal Party federal Treasurer)
Elizabeth Joy Murdoch – $25,000 (Rupert’s daughter who still lives in the UK after years at BSkyB)

Liberals (NSW)

500 Club of NSW Inc – $55,000
Servcorp Pty Ltd – $49,500 (charge like wounded bulls to use their office space)
IQMS Pty Ltd – $47,800
Tenix Corporate Pty Ltd – $29,500 (the Defence contractor which signed up Peter Reith straight after he left Parliament)
Richard Hains – $25,000
Sereniy Cove Industrial Estate Pty Ltd – $25,000
Everything Travel – $20,000
Marhop Pty Ltd – $20,000
Nashar Pty Ltd – $20,000
Sovori Pty Ltd – $20,000

Liberals (Victoria)

Cormack Foundation – $800,000 (the investment fund from the proceeds of the sale of 3XY)
Estate Peter Forbes MacLaren – $250,000 (good if you can get it)
The 500 Club (VIC) – $225,000 (the fundraising arm set up by John Ellliott is still delivering in spades)
Vapold Pty Ltd – $96,000
Murray 250 Club – $40,000
Menzies 200 Club – $30,000
The
Becton Corporation – $20,000 (aggressive developers who like to play it
both ways have profited enormously from incompetent government dealings
over the years)
Westfield Capital Management – $20,000 (Frank Lowy spreading it around as usual)

Liberals (Queensland)

Forward Brisbane Leadership – $465,000
Libco Pty Ltd – $60,000
Silvada Pty Ltd – $40,000
JJ Richards and Sons Pty Ltd – $25,000
Multiplex
Constructions (Qld) Pty Ltd – $25,000 (John Roberts is keen for plenty
of work from Liberal Lord Mayor Campbell Newman)
Aldoga Aluminium Smelter Pty Ltd – $15,000
Brescia Investments Trust – $15,000
Tabcorp Holdings Ltd – $15,000 (with 3 casinos in Queensland, it pays to keep both sides happy)
Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd – $15,000 (part of Leighton and lots of big Queensland contracts)
Windsory Group Pty Ltd – $15,000

Liberals (SA)

Gerard
Industries $100,000 (Rob Gerard has long been the biggest Lib backer in
SA and clearly deserves his spot on the RBA board)
Adtrans Group – $15,000
ETSA Utilities Pty Ltd – $15,000
Lanes – $11,050
Ausbulk Ltd – $10,000
T & R Pastoral Pty Ltd – $10,000

Liberals (WA)

Canning Federal Campaign – $49,225
The Willows Aged Care Facility – $20,000
Wyllie Group Ltd – $20,000 (the very wealthy former Burswood shareholder Bill Wyllie)
Resolution Holdings – $17,500
Canning Vale Earthmoving Pty Ltd – $10,000
Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd – $10,000
Wesfarmers Ltd – $10,000

ALP (National)

John Curtin House Ltd – $1,200,000 (dodgy Centenary House rent rort delivers again for Labor. What a scandal!)
Croissy Pty Ltd – $300,000 (Wow, Frank Lowy is really looking after the Bruvvers. Orange Grove impact anyone?)
ANZ Banking Group – $125,000 (the banking cartel was taking out insurance in case Latham was PM)
Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd – $100,000 (Dick Pratt always plays it both ways)
Coles Myer Ltd – $67,500 (retail duopoly is more government-dependent than people realise)
Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd – $50,000 (Ingham Chicken brothers have traditionally given heavily to both sides)
Leighton Holdings Ltd – $50,000
Westpac Banking Corporation – $50,000
Allianz Australia Limited – $45,000
Coca-Cola Amatil Limited – $40,000
KBR
(Kellogg Brown & Root) Pty Ltd – $40,000 (dear oh dear, the
Bruvvers have accepted a big whack from Dick Cheney’s Halliburton,
which had the big contract for the Darwin to Alice railway project)

ALP (NSW)

Walker Corporation Pty Ltd – $140,000 (colourful deverloper Lang Walker always delivers big)
North Lakes Pty Ltd – $110,000
Austerand Pty Ltd (Better Australia Foundation) – $100,000
Toga Group of Companies – $55,000
Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd – $50,000
Grocon Pty Ltd – $40,000
The Village Building Co Limited – $38,000
TAB Limited – $35,000 (Makes all those negotiations with the Government over the Tabcorp takeover look interesting)
Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd – $33,333
Austcorp Group Limited – $33,000
Babcock & Brown Pty Ltd – $33,000
Jupiter Limited – $33,000 (is that Tabcorp’s Queensland casino?)
Markson Sparks Pty Ltd – $31,175 (Cherie Blair’s great promoter)
KPMG Australia $30,000
Marfield Holdings Pty Ltd – $30,000
National Pharmacies – $30,000 (very happy when Carr and Howard agreed to block the Woolies move into pharmacies)

ALP (Victoria)

Progressive Business Association Inc. – $445,000
Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd – $33,333
Connex Melbourne – $30,000 (recipient of huge increased subsidies from the taxpayer to run trains and trams)
John Holland Group Pty Ltd – $30,000 (Part of Leighton, must regret this given the disaster of Spencer St)
Tattersall’s
Holdings Pty Ltd – $30,000 (so much for the Bracks government promise
not to take cash from gaming outfits they licence)
ABN Amro – $25,000 (loves that lucrative County Court financing deal)
Australand – $25,000 (won the big Commonwealth Games Village contract, which is now being redesigned)
Grollo Australia Pty Ltd – $25,000 (Bruno and his boys were fighting with the unions and seeking big deals such as the MCG)
H Mitchell – $25,000 (now wonder the advertising heavy gets appointed to all these arts boards)
Village Roadshow Treasury Pty Ltd – $25,000

ALP (Queensland)

Labor Resources Pty Ltd – $4,935,000
The Brisbane’s Future Committee – $153,735
Collingwood Park Developments – $75,000
Hatia Property Developments – $70,000
Multiplex
Developments (QLD) Pty Ltd – $70,000 (John Roberts knows the importance
of planning approvals and big government projects)
Yu Feng Pty Ltd – $69,300
Crosby Road Developments – $56,100
Alan Brendon Corporation Pty Ltd – $55,000
Meriton Apartments Pty Ltd – $50,000
Warner Village Theme Parks – $50,000 (controls the major Gold Coast theme parks which need regulatory and tourism support)
Australand Holdings – $45,000 (controlled by Singapore Government and a big developers in Queensland)

ALP (WA)

Central Pacific Minerals – $30,000
Skywest – $22,000
Burswood International Resort Casino – $15,000 (then independent, now with the Packers)
Devereaux Holdings – $10,000
Graham Laitt – $10,000
Great Southern Plantations Ltd – $10,000
Thiess Pty Ltd – $10,000
Transcontinental Investments Pty Ltd – $10,000
Wesfarmers Limited – $10,000

ALP (SA)

ETSA Utilities Pty Ltd – $15,000
Ausbulk Ltd – $10,000
Cadillac Printing – $9,180
KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root) Pty Ltd – $5,000
Lion Nathan Australia Pty Ltd – $5,000

Latham’s gift: $10 million for the bruvvas

Hugo Kelly counts the cash:

Judging
by this week’s electoral funding disclosures, Labor has shot its golden
goose. Posthumously, Mark Latham has been revealed as the best thing to
happen to Labor Party’s bank balance in years. More than $10 million
extra flowed into the ALP’s coffers last financial year than in the
2002-3 year – most of which, Latham was at the helm.

While Mark was a money magnet, it’s going to be all uphill for
Beazley’s Labor. No wonder Kim had brekky with Peter Beattie on Monday:
the party’s largest single donation was to its Queensland branch via
its investment arm, Labor Resources – $4.9 million.

Labor’s taxpayer-funded cash-cow, John Curtin House, gave $1.2
million to the ALP. While the Cormack Foundation, an investment company
set up from the proceeds of Melbourne radio station 3XY, made the
biggest donation to the Liberal Party: $800,000 to its Victorian branch.

But it was the big black holes in the financial disclosure returns
that underline the need for much stronger federal and state political
donations laws.

Transparent democracy demands tighter accountability on who is
funding politicians and their parties – who is behind clubs, trusts and
foundations, and whether donations are made by foreigners or come with
strings attached.

Andrew Murray, the Democrats Electoral Matters spokesman, has been
hammering away at this issue. In return, the big parties have joined
together to vote down Democrat amendments that sought to prohibit
donations with strings attached.

In Democrat-land, however, the signs are not good. Fresh from their
large slice of the federal funding pie at the November elections, the
Greens stormed ahead of the Democrats in total donations, taking in $3
million, while the Democrats shriveled to $600,000.