“As always, the federal parliament is lagging behind the states in terms of donations reform,” Whealy said. “Just the idea of paying these enormous sums of money to have dinner with politicians is unedifying. It means very wealthy people have access to politicians and ordinary people can’t afford it. It looks bad, it is bad, and it is anti-democratic.”
The details of Labor’s sophisticated business-focused fundraising operations comes as the party prepares to bring much-delayed new laws that will tighten the rules on political donations next month, and as the major parties gear up for a federal election that must be held by May next year.
Membership of the forum has four tiers from $33,000 to $110,000 per year, according to The Australian Financial Review, and entitles the member to tickets to events such as an annual budget dinner and policy briefings with ministers.
Members in 2022-23 number more than 70, including consultancies Deloitte and KPMG, retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers, lobby group the Pharmacy Guild, gambling company Sportsbet and mining giant Fortescue.
Some events feature Labor’s entire economics team: Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh. Others include the entire ministry.
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A two-day event held last August, the Federal Labor Business Exchange offers a program that “provides delegates with a unique opportunity to receive briefings on major policy areas and network with federal ministers and ALP representatives” and costs $12,000 per person, or $9000 for forum members.
The 2024 federal budget proved particularly lucrative, with a dinner attended by Albanese, Chalmers, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and other members of the ministry costing $5000, while a separate “Standing Networking Dinner” was held on the same evening with Albanese, Gallagher and backbench MP Sam Rae on hand. Tickets cost $1500 per person.
The ministerial events are held in capital cities across the country, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
State and federal branches of the Liberal Party hold similar events that target the corporate sector to raise funds for the party.
Whealy said Labor had had more than two years to push through its donations changes, such as a lower threshold for donations disclosure and to broaden the definition of what constitutes a gift to a political party. Special Minister of State Don Farrell has promised to lower the threshold to $1000, from the current level of $16,300.
Instead, those changes had been parked while the government worked through more complicated changes to caps on spending and donations, Whealy said.
“There is a proposal to put caps on donations and campaign spending. We are concerned that this will unfairly treat independents, or people who want to become independents,” he said.
The prime minister’s office, Farrell’s office and the federal ALP did not respond to requests for comment.
