Political Donations WA
by WA Senator Andrew Murray (Australian Democrats Senator)
  

Corporate Donations - let the figures do the talking


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Corporations, by their very nature, exist to maximise profits and shareholder returns. How then does big business reconcile bestowing large donations to political parties - an expense that erodes profit? From the Democrats perspective the answer is simple: this seemingly contradictory objective is to purchase political capital. In other words, to buy access and influence policy outcomes, something that ordinary Australians cannot afford.

So what corporations are buying up Western Australia's democracy you may ask ? The table below lists the top 25 corporate donors to political parties in WA, between 1993 and 2004:

Rank Organisation Industry Amount
1 Furama Property and business services $1,374,155.00
2 Wesfarmers Retail Trade $930,750.00
3 Western Mining Mining $450,000.00
4 Matfield Holdings Unknown $431,089.00
5 Byfields CPA Property and business services $217,258.00
6 Challenge Bank Finance and Insurance $192,560.00
7 Burswood International Resort Casino Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants $185,750.00
8 Perron Group Property and business services $180,830.00
9 Paspaley Pearling Retail Trade $175,000.00
10 Austal Ships Transport and Storage $169,750.00
11 Macquarie Bank Finance and Insurance $162,400.00
12 Griffin Coal Mining Company Mining $159,000.00
13 MG Kailis Group Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing $157,660.00
14 Clough Engineering Group Construction $153,900.00
15 Great Southern Plantations Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing $150,000.00
16 Consolidated Minerals Mining $138,600.00
17 Sons of Gwalia Mining $136,383.00
18 Wyllie Group Property and business services $128,710.00
19 Cape Bouvard Investments Property and business services $124,250.00
20 Commonwealth Bank of Australia Finance and Insurance $121,075.00
21 Multiplex Construction $116,500.00
22 John Hughes Group Retail Trade $111,250.00
23 Alinta Electricity, Gas and Water Supply $110,100.00
24 Mulloway Unknown $108,600.00
25 Thiess Contractors Construction $103,000.00
Total: $6,288,570.00

Source: AEC and WAEC

Document last updated on: 15:25 3rd Apr 2006.