The electoral commission has released figures detailing the sums received and expended by political parties and lobby groups involved in last year’s referendum campaign.
The campaigners who pushed for a Voice to parliament received tens of millions more in financial donations than groups opposed to the reconciliation movement, new data shows.
The discrepancy could be explained by a number of factors. Donations made more than six months before the October referendum were not required to be disclosed. Neither were donations smaller than $15,200. A preliminary analysis by the Australian Democracy Network showed the source of 21 per cent of the $79.6 million in total donations was not disclosed. Transparency groups label this “dark funding” and Labor has committed to lowering the threshold for disclosure to about $1000.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull tipped in $50,000 to the Yes campaign, there was $1.5 million of support from Dr Sophie Oh, who helped found the Susan McKinnon Foundation, $1 million from the Pratt family, $250,000 from PwC, $150,000 from Mecca cosmetics, and $300,000 from the Climate 200 progressive fundraising vehicle.On the opposing side, the B Macfie Fund – run by Bryant Macfie, a long-time donor to right-wing think tanks – was one of the biggest donors, giving about $800,000.
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