Rise in 'dark money' as 10 dominate political donations

Analysis of the Australian Electoral Commission's 2021/22 financial disclosure returns by the Centre for Public Integrity found the top 10 donors contributed 76.9 per cent of all donations during the year, providing $137.5 million to parties and independents.

Topping the list was billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer, who pumped a record $117 million into his United Australia Party ahead of last year's federal election - at which he picked up one Senate seat in Victoria.

Spending at the federal election reached a record $439.4 million.

A separate analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) found $105 million in "dark money" declared by the major parties having no identifiable source.

This was up from $62 million the previous year.

The money from Mr Palmer's Mineralogy mining company was the most an Australian political party has received in one year, beating the UAP's record from the 2019 election when it got $89 million.

Victorian Ralph Babet won the party's sole Senate seat, while it received four per cent of the national lower house primary vote.

Mr Palmer also donated $250,000 to the Liberal Democrats in mid-December 2021, a few weeks after announcing a preference deal with the minor party which campaigned against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

It is understood such a move is not a breach of electoral law.

Labor declared $124 million in receipts, while the coalition revealed $118 million.

The Greens, who received $22 million, continue to call for coal and gas companies to be banned from giving money and a $1000 cap on all donations.

Key independent senator David Pocock, who represents the ACT, received almost $1.7 million, including $856,382 from the Climate 200 group.

Centre for Public Integrity spokesman Anthony Whealy said the undue influence of money in politics was getting worse.

"Record high spending fuelled by a handful of donors is putting our democracy at risk," he said.

"Given the reliance that the major parties have on these top donors, there is a real risk that they receive special access and yield undue influence on our decision-makers."

ACF corporate campaign manager Jolene Elberth said the fossil fuel industry gave more than $2.3 million to the major parties while the mining union, Minerals Council and the oil and gas lobby were also significant contributors.

"Political donations reform - as Labor promised in the lead up to last year's election - is desperately needed and should be enacted immediately to improve integrity and make the system more transparent," she said.

"Caps on donations, a lower threshold for revealing donations and more regular disclosures would vastly improve the integrity of our political system."

In late 2022, Greens senator Larissa Waters brought to parliament a bill to ban coal and gas corporation donations and cap all other donations at $1000.

The ban would also cover the gambling, banking, defence and pharmaceutical industries.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the 2022 election, Labor backed real-time disclosure and reducing the disclosure threshold from $15,200 to $1000.

It also called for caps on electoral spending but said the changes needed to be carefully considered.

The Liberals say real-time disclosure could put too much of a paperwork burden on parties and candidates and lead to bullying or harassment of donors during elections.

Australian Associated Press