Friday 15 February 2013

Just how broke are the three major players in the countdown to the 2013 Australian Federal Election?

 
According to Democracy4Sale the Federal Liberal Party of Australia received 418 declarable donations between 2006/7 and 2010/11, with a total value of $30,754,639.
In 2011/12 the Australian Electoral Commission published annual returns that showed the Federal Liberal Party received in excess of $6.5 million in cash and non-cash benefits.
 
Between 2006/7 and 20010/11 the Federal National Party of Australia received 52 declarable donations, with a total value of $2,470,762.
While in 2011/12 the Federal Nationals declared $969,299 in cash and non-cash benefits.  
 
Drawing on these same records, the Federal Australian Labor Party managed to gather 1,262 declarable donations between 2006/7 and 2010/11, with a total value of $50,977,094.
In 2011/12 Federal Labor declared in excess of $10.8 million in cash and non-cash benefits.  
 
All three parties also have various associated entities, some of which are wholly dedicated to fundraising for election campaigns, and state branches have also been known to make donations/loans to their federal counterparts ahead of general election campaigns.
 
 
However, this is not an accurate picture of the state of play, as none of the political parties had to declare individual donations that were $11,900 or less and, as donors are not always reliable accountants when submitting their own returns, money does sometimes fall between the cracks. So there is in all likelihood a hidden pot behind each of these recent returns submitted to the Electoral Commission.

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