Pre-poll voting in the city for the May federal election. Photo: George Tsotsos.
The Labor Party’s investment vehicle and a prominent real estate company head the list of political donations from the 2018-19 annual returns posted by the ACT Electoral Commission.
In a Federal election year, the 1973 Foundation tipped $331,527.00 into the ALP coffers, while LJ Hooker Commercial provided $196,204.23 to the Canberra Liberals.
Consultant Liesl Centenera topped the private donor’s list with $30,000 given to Labor for the federal campaign, while John Little of Reid gave the Greens $10,000.
The Community and Public Sector Union was the biggest union donor to Labor, giving $42,453.68 while United Voice provided $9175.46. The ALP National Secretariat helped out with $16,287.75 for the Federal campaign.
Head of online game educator Australian Interactive Entertainment John De Margheriti handed over $5450 to the Liberals, and the Australian Computer Society gave $4925.
The Labor Party received a total of $1,945,489, including $82,119 in cash donations, $30,618 in free facilities use and $567,798 in gifts in kind. In the other receipts column was $1,264,954, including $337,394.44 from the ACT Electoral Commission.
The Liberal Party (ACT) received about half that of Labor with a total of $954,051, including cash gifts of $86,592, use of free facilities worth $3250, and $18,519 worth of gifts in kind. Other receipts totalled $845,690, including $246,728.35 from Elections ACT.
The ACT Greens pulled in $586,307, including $171,440 in cash and $5510 worth of in kind gifts. Other receipts were $409,357, including $255,368.20 from the Australian Electoral Commission and $44,859.70 from the ACT Electoral Commission.
After a costly election campaign, all the major parties are in debt, with Labor owing $35,848, the Liberals $9217 and the Greens $15,176.
