Investments, not individuals, paid the bills in Canberra's two major political parties over the past five years, making the ACT Greens the only party funded primarily by people power.
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Analysis by Fairfax Media of all reported payments made to Canberra's three major political parties between 2009-2014 shows how heavily Labor and the Liberals rely on income from business investments.
In the past five years Labor has received twice as much money from Canberra Labor clubs and their investment trust, the 1973 Foundation, as all other payments combined.
Since 2009, they have received about $3.1 million from their associated entities and investments, compared to $1.4 million from businesses, developers, individuals and unions, among others.
Similarly in the ACT Liberal Party about $1.2 million has come from their property investments between 2009-2014, more than the $1.17 million from all other sources.
The ACT Greens were funded primarily by the federal branch of their own party, to the tune of $371,081, as well as accumulating $315,612 from individual donations and receipts, more than any other Canberra party.
Contributions from wealthy individuals made up almost half of all ACT Greens donations over the past five years.
The analysis examined all declared private contributions, both donations and receipts, above $1000 between the 2009-10 and 2013-14 financial years.
It did not include public funding provided by ACT elections or the Australian Electoral Commission.
Large businesses and ACT developers have contributed large sums of money to both the Labor and Liberal parties in recent years, giving more than $1 million to both between 2009-2014.
IGA Distribution, NRMA Insurance and ActewAGL were among the businesses to provide gifts and receipts to the Labor Party, while the Liberals were favoured by Kwik Kopy, Capital Collection Services and Project Lighting.
ACT developers behind some of the largest projects in the territory have donated to both the Labor and the Liberal parties over the past five years, with about $220,000 alone going to Labor.
The Molonglo Group, which developed Canberra's award-winning New Acton precinct, donated more than $25,000 to Labor over consecutive years and $4000 to the Liberal Party in 2009-10.
While the ACT Liberals have topped Labor for donations in both 2013 and 2014, their debt levels have soared as reported by Fairfax Media on Monday.
The local branch of the Liberal Party has topped almost half a million dollars in debt in the past year, while Labor and the Greens owed only a portion of that at $83,000 and $12,000 respectively.
In the past two years Canberra Labor Club payments to the Labor Party have plunged, as the party has tried to put some distance between itself and the clubs through the 1973 Foundation.
The foundation is a Labor trust, whose investments are paid for by the club group and through which the clubs channel some of their support for the Labor Party.
In 2013-14, the Canberra Labor Club gave just $15,000 to ACT Labor directly, compared to the hundreds of thousands it has paid in the past, while depositing $2.5 million of capital into the foundation.
In the past three years, the 1973 Foundation has given $740,000 to ACT Labor.
Another large source of Labor funding was local branches of unions, such as the CFMEU, the CEPU and the TWU, which contributed about $600,000 to ACT Labor.
ACT Labor secretary Elias Hallaj said the party had decided to step away from the Canberra Labor clubs,
and was trying to diversify its sources of income.
Mr Hallaj said the majority of the money paid to the party from local unions was affiliation fees, the equivalent of membership fees.
He said ACT Labor had always supported full disclosure with regards to donations and other sources of income for all political participants in local elections.
A spokesperson for the ACT Liberals said their guidelines and policies on accepting donations were appropriate and consistent with the party's legal obligations.
Speaking about the huge $180,000 payment from their federal branch in 2013-14, the ACT Liberals said transfers between divisions of political parties occurred from time to time.
ACT Greens convener Sophie Trevitt said the party was very proud of its large number of individual donations, saying it reflected its grassroots campaigning.
She said the ACT Greens had no plans to invest in property or business like the Labor and Liberal partys to increase the amount of funding they received.
"The ACT Greens are committed to clean, accountable and transparent politics and that means donations from our members, supporters and organisations who share our values," she said.
