ANALYSIS: The state Liberal Party has come out ahead of WA Labor in the election donation race, but the governing party’s wallet runs deeper than the money it has been gifted.
Analysis: The state Liberal Party has come out ahead of WA Labor in the election donation race, but the governing party’s wallet runs deeper than the money it has been gifted.
Less than 48 hours from election day, the Liberal Party of Western Australia has collected nearly $2.9 million worth of disclosed donations, against WA Labor’s $2.3 million.
The funds are public as part of the new electoral disclosure system that has required the parties to declare contributions above $2,600 within a week outside of the election period, and within 24 hours during the campaign.
Reporting is in near-real time, so there is a chance the figures will change again over the next day.
There is an even greater chance that the bulk of each party’s election war kitty has already been spent.
Those exhausted by a constant bombardment of political advertising will be pleased to know that all parties are subject to a blackout of TV and radio advertising in the 48 hours leading up to Saturday’s election.
The ban does not extend to digital advertising, however.
And those among the 40,000 Western Power customers affected by power outages as a result of light rain this week may well have been triggered by a WA Labor marketing email circulated today that called for donations, with a subject line that read “The blackout”.
As that email pointed out, the last of the political donations to trickle in ahead of Saturday will be spent on digital marketing.
“As soon as you make a donation, our digital team will immediately increase our digital ads by the amount you give,” the WA Labor material read.
“The more you give, the more ads we will run.”
A $90,000 donation on Friday by Fry Holdings – a business entity run by rapid antigen test supplier Matthew Fry – will buy a fair few digital ads for the Liberals in the final days of the race.
The donation is among the single largest made to any party since July 1, and behind only a $99,000 gift from Gina Rinehart’s S Kidman & Co in terms of Liberal contributions.
Peet chair Tony Lennon gifted $16,500 to the Libs this week, and several other prominent WA businesspeople and politicians have made their way onto the register in recent days.
It has lifted the 'blue team' – a term bandied about by high-profile Churchlands candidate Basil Zempilas over the course of the campaign – over the governing party where donations are concerned.
Levy playing field
Donations are the main measure of the Liberal election kitty, but they do not tell the whole story for WA Labor.
Party rules dictate that WA Labor members in the lower houses of state and federal parliament are required to pay a levy of 4 per cent of their annual salary back to the party.
Upper house members in both parliaments are required to pay 7 per cent of their annual salary.
Since July 1 and owing to the weight of numbers the party holds, the compulsory levy system has netted WA Labor close to $800,000 on top of the donations received.
These payments have been made across 1,277 transactions from all applicable members.
The Greens WA also impose a levy on their members, but this has generated $27,476 over the same period: a figure split between the contributions of Brad Pettitt, Dorinda Cox and Jordon Steele-John.
Affiliate fees charged to the unions connected with WA Labor have generated just shy of $520,000 for the party since July 1.
Then there is Perth Trades Hall Inc, a separate associated entity to the party, which hosts business roundtable events.
A further $498,000 was delivered through it.
With these figures added, Labor’s election kitty goes beyond $4 million; substantially higher than the $2.9 million its main opponent has collected.
Independent surge
Six entities – five of which are political parties or affiliate entities – have reported donations above $100,000 since July 1 last year.
The sixth is Kate Hulett.
The teal-tinged Fremantle independent’s campaign has attracted more in donations than that of several fringe parties, including Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Stop Pedophiles! Protect Kiddies!, Legalise Cannabis, and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.
Ms Hulett’s campaign has been backed by Climate 200 – the Simon Holmes à Court entity linked to the teal movement across the country – to the tune of $50,000.
But she has received backing from others as well.
Activist shareholder Lily Jovic has donated $10,000 to the campaign, while branding agency Brandino has gifted more than $5,000, and sustainable home designer Roy Lewisson has offered up $8,250.
Norman Pater’s Pater Investments has gifted $28,000, in addition to its already substantial contributions to the Greens.
Ms Hulett’s campaign is by far the best backed of the independents to have put their hats in the ring at this year’s state election.
She will be seeking to defeat incumbent member and WA Labor's Simone McGurk in Fremantle, a seat the training and water minister has held since 2013. The Greens will also be in play.
The seat was identified as one with boilover potential in Business News' analysis published earlier this week.
