Very few big donations are going the way of the ACT's major political parties, with new disclosure reports confirming the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Labor clubs as the biggest sources of party funding.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The CFMEU ACT Branch donated a total of $21,300 to the ACT Labor Party in the 2013-14 financial year while the union's national construction division gave the ACT Greens a single donation of $50,000 for federal election campaigning.
Australian Electoral Commission annual returns released on Monday showed the Labor Party had $813,624 in total receipts, ahead of the ACT Greens who received $640,052.
The Canberra Liberals received $1.16 million in 2013-14, including $217,800 in rent from property owned by the party, $163,247 in taxpayer funded electoral payments and $230,075 from the federal Liberals.
Debt continues as a key challenge for the ACT branch of the Liberals, standing at $492,269, including $367,559 owed to the National Australia Bank and more than $79,700 to Australia Post.
The party also owes real estate firm LJ Hooker Commercial $18,570.
AEC rules require the source of any donation of more than $12,400 to be declared, while ACT electoral laws require the disclosure of donations of more than $1000.
The ACT Electoral Commission returns released in September show more detail of where the money came from, including that investments paid the majority of bills in the past five years.
Since 2009, Labor received about $3.1 million from their associated entities and investments, compared with $1.4 million from businesses, developers, individuals and unions, among others.
The Liberal Party received about $1.2 million from their property investments between 2009-2014, more than the $1.17 million from all other sources.
The national records also show party spending and debt.
Labor's trust, the 1973 Foundation, gave $240,000 raised from property investment while Labor clubs contributed more than $17,500 in the period.
ACT Labor's debts total $83,165, with the largest amounts split between AON Risk Services and the Canberra Southern Cross Club.
The Canberra Times reported in September the territory's largest individual political donation of the past five years was received by the ACT Greens.
The combined total of $30,000 came from Canberra-born mathematician and investor Duncan Turpie, now based in Queensland.
The Greens received $196,880 in electoral funding and the party has $15,278 in debts, all below the reporting threshold.
The Canberra Liberals also spent the most last year, with total payments of $988,000. Labor spent $927,000 and the Greens spent $588,000.
A Liberal spokesman said former branch president Tio Faulkner had signed off on the latest disclosure returns lodged on October 20 last year, despite stepping down from the position in November 2013.
The spokesman said the party had been unable to update its official records, meaning Mr Faulkner and not his successor Peter Collins was required to sign off on the disclosures.
In February 2014 a $300,000 discrepancy was found in the Liberal Party's financial declarations to the two different electoral authorities in the same month. At the time Mr Collins blamed the discrepancy on an error in official paperwork.
The party was fined $16,500 in late 2013 for breaching ACT electoral disclosure laws by failing to report almost $40,000 it received in gifts and donations.
In December, ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green said he was investigating the reporting of a $2.5 million donation to Labor's 1973 Foundation from the Labor clubs.
The ACT government has introduced legislation that will scrap the existing $10,000 cap on donations from any one organisation or person each year.
