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Political Tracker

Federal · AEC annual disclosure returns

Who gives, and who gets

The biggest declared political donations each financial year: who gave the most, and which parties, associated entities, third parties and MPs received the most.
Declared donations, 2024–25
$165M
2,559 receipts declared
Donors
1,139
to 77 recipients
Disclosure threshold
$16,900
Donors who give a recipient more than this in a year must be declared

Who gave the most

Donors ranked by what recipients declared receiving from them in 2024–25, across every recipient.

All donorsExclude party money
  • Mineralogy Pty Ltd$54,344,910
    Mineralogy is an Australian mining company owned by Clive Palmer. WikipediaTo 2 recipients, most to Australian Federation PartyAlso lodges returns as a third-party campaigner (spends on election campaigning)
  • Climate 200 Pty Ltd$6,638,507
    Climate 200 Pty Ltd is an Australian company that provides political funding. WikipediaTo 15 recipients, most to HOTHOUSEMAG PTY LTDAlso lodges returns as a third-party campaigner (spends on election campaigning)Also received $15M
  • Pam Wall$5,245,000
    To Liberal Party of Australia (S.A. Division)
  • Coal Australia Limited$5,243,873
    To 5 recipients, most to Australians for Prosperity
  • Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd$5,200,000
    Cormack Foundation Pty. Ltd. is an Australian investment company established to hold for the Liberal Party of Australia and associated entities. WikipediaTo 3 recipients, most to Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)Associated entity of Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division), Liberal Party of Australia
  • Labor Holdings Pty Ltd$4,010,000
    To Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland)Associated entity of Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland)
  • Mining and Energy Union$3,287,000
    The Mining and Energy Union (MEU) is Australia's main trade union in the coal industry, which includes mines, power stations and ports. WikipediaTo 3 recipients, most to Australian Labor Party (ALP)Also lodges returns as a third-party campaigner (spends on election campaigning)
  • Pratt Holdings$3,000,000
    To 2 recipients, most to Australian Labor Party (ALP)
  • Keldoulis Investments Pty Ltd$2,521,752
    To 7 recipients, most to Climate 200 Pty Limited
  • Australian Greens$1,953,275
    The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a left-wing green Australian political party. WikipediaTo 5 recipients, most to Queensland GreensRegistered partyAlso received $1.7M
  • Oryxium Investments Limited$1,800,000
    To 2 recipients, most to Liberal Party of Australia
  • QLD Branch ALP$1,580,260
    The Queensland Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party and commonly referred to as Queensland Labor or simply Labor, is the branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the state of Queensland. WikipediaTo Australian Labor Party (ALP)
  • Scott Farquhar$1,500,000
    Scott Farquhar is an Australian businessman who is the co-founder and former co-chief executive officer of software company Atlassian. WikipediaTo Climate 200 Pty Limited
  • William Taylor Nominees$1,500,000
    To 2 recipients, most to Climate 200 Pty Limited
  • SA Porgressive Business$1,448,478
    To Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
  • VIC Branch ALP$1,323,144
    The Victorian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as Victorian Labor, is the Victorian state branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). WikipediaTo Australian Labor Party (ALP)
  • Michael Cannon-Brookes$1,300,000
    Michael Cannon-Brookes is an Australian billionaire and businessman who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of the software company Atlassian, a Forbes Global 2000 company. WikipediaTo Climate 200 Pty Limited
  • United Workers Union$1,249,862
    The United Workers Union (UWU) is an Australian trade union. WikipediaTo 5 recipients, most to Australian Labor Party (ALP)Associated entity of Australian Labor Party (N.S.W. Branch), Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch), Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch), Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland), Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch), Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch), Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory) Branch
  • Duncan Turpie$1,110,000
    To 3 recipients, most to Queensland Greens
  • Paul Bennett$1,100,000
    To Climate 200 Pty Limited

Who received the most

Each recipient as it lodges returns, so every party branch is listed separately and nothing is added together. Bars in both lists share one scale.

Parties

Registered parties, by branch.

Campaign groups and other organisations

Recipients that aren't registered parties. Third-party and political campaigners are organisations that spend on election campaigning, such as Climate 200, Advance Australia, unions and lobby groups (“political campaigner” is the AEC's term once that spending is large). Associated entities operate for a party; MPs lodge their own returns.

When donations were made

Gifts by month in 2024–25, as donors reported them in their own returns: $140M. That's a separate source from the rankings above, which use what recipients declared ($165M). Only donors' returns give a date for each gift, and the two sources don't always match, so they're never added.

  1. July 2024: $4,694,220
  2. August 2024: $3,697,850
  3. September 2024: $4,685,081
  4. October 2024: $5,240,525
  5. November 2024: $3,167,113
  6. December 2024: $5,846,172
  7. January 2025: $6,259,849
  8. February 2025: $34,263,524
  9. March 2025: $11,074,503
  10. April 2025: $48,107,418
  11. May 2025: $4,390,994
  12. June 2025: $8,728,715
Show as a table
Donor-reported gifts by month, 2024–25
MonthAmountGifts
July 2024$4,694,220276
August 2024$3,697,850228
September 2024$4,685,081256
October 2024$5,240,525268
November 2024$3,167,113225
December 2024$5,846,172235
January 2025$6,259,849258
February 2025$34,263,524521
March 2025$11,074,503534
April 2025$48,107,418557
May 2025$4,390,994151
June 2025$8,728,715175

Largest gifts in the 90 days before the 2025 federal election

Where party money came from

Each party branch's total receipts in 2024–25, split by source. Public funding is money from federal and state electoral commissions. “Not itemised” is the part of the total the return doesn't break down by payer, mostly amounts under the disclosure threshold. Money moving between branches of one party counts as income to each.

  • Declared donations
  • Public funding (electoral commissions)
  • Other itemised receipts
  • Not itemised
Show as a table
Party branchTotalDeclared donationsPublic funding (electoral commissions)Other itemised receiptsNot itemised
Australian Labor Party (ALP)$71,858,506$14,014,772$34,887,284$19,637,440$3,319,010
Australian Federation Party$54,081,977$54,079,910$0$0$2,067
Liberal Party of Australia$53,226,829$10,013,345$26,812,144$9,624,951$6,776,389
Liberal National Party of Queensland$52,275,793$2,321,898$11,193,111$22,019,413$16,741,371
Liberal Party of Australia, NSW Division$32,879,308$4,817,714$4,532,506$4,589,282$18,939,806
Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)$32,153,903$7,647,000$3,852,158$6,735,945$13,918,800
Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland)$23,320,771$6,408,513$9,530,098$5,004,944$2,377,216
Australian Labor Party (N.S.W. Branch)$17,808,708$3,048,800$4,181,000$2,395,585$8,183,323
Liberal Party (W.A. Division) Inc$17,805,220$1,730,734$3,170,969$2,582,144$10,321,373
Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)$15,476,384$1,318,896$5,606,722$1,484,323$7,066,443
Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)$14,784,949$2,385,072$4,785,094$2,247,798$5,366,985
Liberal Party of Australia (S.A. Division)$11,062,188$5,779,500$1,079,998$159,996$4,042,694

Candidates who received the most

Gifts declared on candidates' own election returns for the 2025 Federal Election. These are separate from the annual returns above: money given to a candidate's party or campaign company is counted there instead.

  • Alexander Edward Dyson$2,186,936
    Wannon, VIC · Independent1786 donors
  • Carolyn Gai Heise$2,141,655
    Cowper, NSW · Independent55 donors
  • Monique Marie Ryan$1,905,102
    Kooyong, VIC · Independent3242 donors
  • Zoe Daniel$1,834,832
    Goldstein, VIC · Independent1917 donors
  • Deborah Louise Leonard$1,788,961
    Monash, VIC · Independent402 donors
  • Benjamin John Smith$1,786,645
    Flinders, VIC · Independent641 donors
  • Allegra May Spender$1,743,971
    Wentworth, NSW · Independent1398 donors
  • Sophie Anna Scamps$1,729,956
    Mackellar, NSW · Independent1673 donors
  • Katherine Ella Chaney$1,484,647
    Curtin, WA · Independent1513 donors
  • Erchana Murray-Bartlett$1,271,066
    McPherson, QLD · Independent221 donors
  • Kathleen Louise Hook$1,023,794
    Calare, NSW · Independent462 donors
  • Eleanor Smith$931,233
    Dickson, QLD · Independent1316 donors
  • Zali Steggall$789,736
    Warringah, NSW · Independent1421 donors
  • Susan Margaret Chapman$730,403
    Forrest, WA · Independent360 donors
  • Keryn Louise Jones$690,652
    Fisher, QLD · Independent205 donors

Reading these figures

  • A donor must be declared once their gifts to one recipient in a year total more than the disclosure threshold ($16,900 in 2024–25). Donors who give less are missing, and money can be spread across branches or entities to stay under it. One receipt line can cover several gifts. AEC thresholds.
  • Counted only where the recipient declared the receipt as a donation. Public election funding, investment income, loans and other receipts are left out.
  • Money can be counted more than once as it moves: a donor gives to a third party such as Climate 200, which gives to candidates' campaigns, or a party branch passes money to its national office. “Also received” marks donors that were recipients too.
  • The same donor can be spelled differently on different returns. Spellings that differ only in capitals, punctuation or company suffixes (“Pty Ltd”) are combined; nothing else is. Donors aren't classified by industry.
  • Descriptions of donors are from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), each linked to its article. They appear only where we checked that the article is about that donor, not a namesake, owner or parent company.
  • Source: AEC Transparency Register, as declared by recipients. Annual returns for a financial year are published the following February.