Donor Kebab: Political donors give more than money

Tabcorp doesn't do things by halves. Australia's largest gambling company was fined $45 million in 2017 for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws on 108 separate occasions, but no one could accuse them of not being diligent in duchessing political parties and their elected representatives.

Donations data released last week by the Australian Electoral Commission shows Tabcorp Holdings Limited donated $186,940 to the Liberals, Labor, and the Nationals in 2020-21, with the money spread across various federal and state branches. Tabcorp's total donations since the May 2019 election come to $391,195, though this understates the company's donations as any made after 30 June 2021 are yet to be disclosed.

Tabcorp's support for Australian democracy doesn't end there. As the table below shows, during this parliamentary term the company has thrown hospitality at elected officials, providing 23 of them with a total of 73 tickets to marquee events. This includes the Melbourne Cup, Derby Day, Everest Day, and the State of Origin. A few MPs have even enjoyed entry to the exclusive Birdcage enclosure at Flemington Racecourse. But the biggest recipient of Tabcorp's generosity is Michelle Rowland, Labor's Shadow Communications Minister - she and her family have received 11 tickets to racing carnivals, including the TAB Everest race, the Golden Eagle, and a Melbourne Cup function at Royal Randwick.

Not far behind Tabcorp with its donations + hospitality and gifts strategy is Lion, the alcohol beverage giant that makes Tooheys, XXXX and Hahn. The brewer has donated $267,500 to the major parties since the election, and over that time has provided 20 politicians with beer and tickets to the Melbourne Cup, State of Origin, and various AFL and NRL matches. Michelle Rowland is again the leading beneficiary, scoring at least seven tickets and hospitality.

The disclosures that most piqued our interest were Lion's house warming gifts for newly elected politicians: Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg declared an in kind donation in October 2019 for the opening of his new office, while Liberal MP Anika Wells declared refreshments (of the alcoholic kind?) for her first speech. The gifts are suggestive of a 'ground floor' approach to lobbying, where an interest group tries to develop relationships with parliamentarians at the outset of their careers rather than waiting until they get into positions of power, by which time access becomes harder. There are hits and misses with this approach as most political careers never rise to dizzying heights, but when it works it works a treat as politicians tend to not forget those who were around them in the beginning when they had few supporters and no power.

Telstra is the third large player in the donations + game. Since the election the telco has donated $124,568 to the major parties and provided 12 MPs and senators with a total of 32 tickets to various headline acts. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher was given two tickets to the Hugh Jackman "The Man. The Music. The Show" concert, while Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers received six tickets to Grinspoon Chemical Hearts Tour. To Chalmers' credit, the tickets were donated to a local organisation.

Other donors

Another 34 donors have provided a total of 109 gifts or tickets to 66 politicians since the election. While these donors are not as generous as Tabcorp and co with in-kind donations, this table shows a number of sectors are still making solid contributions, particularly banking, resources and energy, and gambling.

A couple of donors deserve special mention. Nine Entertainment, chaired by former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello, has focused most of its hospitality on Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, providing him and his spouse with tickets to Australian Open on two occasions and an invite to the Parliament's Midwinter Ball. The minister accounts for 86% of Nine's total hospitality. The only other politician to receive Nine's entertainment is far right Senator Pauline Hanson, who enjoyed flights and two nights accommodation to visit Uluru in August 2019 so A Current Affair could get her unique insights on why tourists should not be stopped from climbing all over the sacred site. Channel 9 initially denied paying for Hanson's trip before journalist Anthony Klan exposed that the network sponsored the whole thing. Hanson's then chief of staff James Ashby travelled on Nine's dime too.

A peculiar disclosure comes from Anacta Strategies, a small lobbying outfit in Brisbane founded by Evan Moorhead, a former Queensland State MP and secretary of the Queensland Labor Party. Anacta has donated $79,242 to the ALP since the election and provided tickets and hospitality to the State of Origin and 2020 AFL Grand Final tickets, with the latter valued at $2250 a ticket. In comparison, Anasta's much larger competitor Hawker Britton, a national firm with offices in all states, only donated $13,372 over the same period. Perhaps Anacta can afford this because it's on fat client retainers. According to the Queensland Lobbyist Register, Anacta's clients include Tabcorp, Lion, and Plenary Group, all of which make political donations and provide politicians with hospitality.

All the largesse detailed here may not be the full picture, as a Coalition MP tells Opens Politics that they seriously doubt all gifts, tickets and hospitality are being disclosed. This is not surprising. If someone knowingly fails to declare their interests they can be found guilty of serious contempt of parliament and dealt with accordingly, however the committees that are supposed to enforce the rules rarely do, leaving it to MPs and senators to decide whether to disclose an interest and in what detail. A case in point is the privileges committee's decision in November 2021 to not force Christian Porter to disclose the funders of his legal fees in a defamation case.

The rationalisations

These organisations would reject the idea they provide donations and hospitality to influence government decisions. Their usual bromide is that it's about supporting democracy and civil society. Tabcorp has a more novel argument, stating in its 2021 annual report that it makes political donations because, "[a]s a listed entity operating in a highly regulated environment, Tabcorp has an obligation to its shareholders and stakeholders to participate in the process of public policy development." On one level that is a reasonable argument as organisations are entitled to have a say on public policy proposals through making public submissions and lobbying elected officials and bureaucrats in their offices. However there's a world of difference between this and a company providing food, alcohol, and entertainment at some exclusive venue to try and bend the regulatory environment to suit their commercial interests.

Open Politics would like to see a ban on all donations, hospitality, and gifts from organisations, and for donations to be restricted to people on the electoral roll and capped at $200. Then we might get more politicians acting in the public interest.