Even at the best of times, the phrase “political donation” has a somewhat mendacious undertone to it.
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Large companies or wealthy individuals donating large sums of money to a political party can often be perceived by the public as somewhat unsavoury.
On the odd occasion, there’s a perception that there can be strings attached.
Sometimes, people will donate money to a cause – because they genuinely believe in what that party stands for.
But one would have to be naive to believe that some of the time, there are other motives at play – they are hoping to push an agenda, win favour or sway opinion.
This week it emerged that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull donated $1.75 million of his own wealth back to the federal Liberal Party.
Nothing wrong with that in any way. Besides, the first $1500 is tax deductible.
He’s more than entitled to do so. It’s his money, it’s his party and obviously he believes in what they stand for. That said, it’s still a large sum of money. Too much perhaps?
So what does the public make of other companies and groups donating large sums of money to campaigns or spending huge amounts campaigning to – sometimes – further their own cause?
What about trade unions? What about groups such as GetUp! Or mining tycoons? Or at a state level, a gambling company.
Quite often, as was the case with GetUp! at last year’s federal election, the public is blissfully unaware of the sheer scope of those donations, which is said to be in the vicinity of $10 million.
GetUp! campaigned heavily in the seat of Bass against then incumbent Liberal Andrew Nikolic on issues such as health and education.
Mr Nikolic was particularly scathing in his assessment of GetUp’s involvement in his campaign loss – or at least his perception of the level of their involvement.
His opponents say there were more pertinent issues relating to the MHR’s loss to Labor’s Ross Hart.
Regardless of which side of the fence you sit, it still raises the question: should there be more transparency surrounding political donations, as well as the motives and tactics used by all political and non-political parties during an election campaign?
It’s difficult to find a valid argument against any of those questions.
