Money trail reveals links between Libs and opponents of penalty ratesBy Mark Phillips
Editor of Working Life
FOLLOW the money. That’s always been the way to find out where power and influence lies.
And it is now different with the release today of annual financial disclosure returns by the Australian Electoral Commission for 2013-14.
http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Default.aspxThese annual reports tell us where political parties get their money from, who are the big donors to both side of politics, and how some of the money is spent.
Political parties are required by law to publicly make available information about all receipts above the disclosure threshold for the financial year, which is $12,400 for the 2013-14 financial year.
This transparency is important so we can have an effectively functioning democracy.
And make no mistake, there is big money involved.
Coalition easily out-earned Labor
The period of today’s disclosures covers the lead up to the September 2013 election, which saw the Tony Abbott take office.
The headline figures from this year’s release are that the federal and state branches of the Liberal Party had receipts of $125 million in 2013-14, while Labor received $78.2 million (not all this money comes from donations, it can also come from investments, sales of merchandise and other sources). The Nationals received $12 million, giving the two Coalition parties $137 million in total. The Greens received $21.4 million
But it is delving into the source of the Coalition’s funding that things get really interesting.
It is revealing that some of the companies and employer groups calling for changes to working conditions, including cuts to penalty rates and the minimum wage, are among the largest donors to the Coalition.
Chief among them is the building products company Brickworks, which donated $263,000 to the Liberal Party in 2013-14.
Brickworks managing director Lindsay Partridge has been a high-profile voice calling for the abolition of penalty rates. He claims paying weekend rates is eating into his company’s profits and he wants Brickworks’ employees to start at 4am, without penalties and abolish weekend penalty rates.
The various state branches of the Australian Hotels Association, which is the employer group for people who work in pubs, donated more than $300,000 to the Liberals. The Restaurant and Catering Association gave the Liberals $33,467, and the Pharmacy Guild gave them $95,505.
What binds all these groups together is that they are all opponents of penalty rates for working on weekends or outside of normal shifts.
The largest donor to the Liberals was the private hospital operator Paul Ramsay Holdings, which gave the party $600,000 as well as $25,000 to the Nationals.
Tory billionaire backs Australian Liberals
There is much, much more buried within the annual disclosures, but one other name caught our eye.
That is the billionaire businessman Lord Michael Ashcroft, the chairman of the British Conservative Party and an infamous corporate raider in his home country.
He gave $250,000 to the Liberals in 2013-14, which follows $250,000 to them for the 2010 election year, and $1 million for the 2004 election year.
Lord Ashcroft claims to live in the tax haven of Belize – although there is evidence he actually resides in the United States – and consequently manages to minimise the amount of he pays in the country of his birth.
Climate change conspiracy theorists will note that the leading climate-change sceptic Ian Plimer donated $97,500 to the Coalition.
And if you don’t think you can buy yourself a seat in Parliament, then consider the case of Family First Senator Bob Day, who in 2013-14 funded almost half of the party’s revenue with a donation of $484,000.
http://workinglife.org.au/2015/02/02/money-trail-reveals-links-between-libs-and-...
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