Donations & NGOs

Political money in WA doesn't only come as donations. It comes as paid access to ministers, union fees, and taxpayer-funded lobby groups. Nothing here is necessarily illegal, and that's exactly the problem.

Headline figures

• About $1.57m: raised in one year (2022-23) by WA Labor's Business Roundtable for access to ministers, recorded as "other receipts", not donations. (ABC)
• 17 of 22: WA peak bodies more than 70% government-funded. (ACNC)
• $146,844: union affiliation fees paid to Labor in a single quarter (Jul–Sep 2024). (ABC)
• $290,006: spent campaigning at the 2025 election by WALGA, which is funded by councils. (WAEC)
• 6 months: the cut-down waiting period before ex-MPs can take paid government board roles (Jul 2025). (SMH)

Findings

1. Cash for access sits outside the "donations" column

• Fact: WA Labor's Business Roundtable gives paying members small-group events with senior ministers. It raised about $1.57m in 2022-23, recorded as "other receipts" (ABC, Jan 2024). The ABC's 2025 tracker found that Labor's fundraising lead comes from indirect gifts such as event access, plus union fees and MP levies. On direct gifts alone, the Liberals were ahead (ABC tracker).
• Fact: Environmental consultancy JBS&G gave more than $30,000 to WA Labor between 2021 and 2023 while Darren Walsh was a director. Walsh became EPA Chair on 14 Oct 2024. He said he cut all ties before joining the EPA and that the role was never discussed. The Minister said the appointment was never discussed at a fundraiser. No finding of wrongdoing has been made (WAtoday, Oct 2024).
• Our read: Buying access is legal and reported in less detail than a donation. If you pay for time with a minister, the public should see it in real time.

2. Donors who also receive government benefits (correlation only)

• Fact: In 2024 Programmed gave WA Labor $40,000 in five donations and gave Labor's fundraising vehicle Perth Trades Hall a further $27,500 (about $67.5k in total; the ABC reports $66,770), plus $13,250 to the Liberals and $2,500 to the Nationals. These are state disclosures to the WA Electoral Commission (WAEC), as reported by WAtoday (11 Mar 2025) and the ABC (12 Mar 2025). Its unit holds the $86–87m WAEC election-workforce contract (2024–29), which was signed in 2023, before those donations. WAEC is independent and says the tender was competitive. The Nationals referred the matter to the CCC, and no finding has been published (ABC, Mar 2025; WAtoday).
• Fact: Perdaman gave Labor $25,030 and the Liberals $11,500 in Jul–Sep 2024. Its urea project received more than $300m in State-arranged support in 2022–23, before those donations, including $255m in federal NAIF loans to Pilbara Ports and Water Corp (ABC; WA Govt).
• Fact: In Jul–Sep 2024, Labor accepted Woodside $12,100 and Mineral Resources $8,750 before announcing changes to gas reservation policy (ABC). Resources and energy was Labor's largest donating sector at the 2025 election (ABC).
• Fact: AEC returns show Home Group WA gave the ALP WA Branch $16,591 (2023-24) and $45,414 (2024-25), $62,005 in total. The Department of Housing and Works has awarded it social-housing build contracts of about $350k–$390k per house, including at Brabham (Jun 2025) and Haynes (Oct 2024) (AEC Transparency Register; Tenders WA). The total contract value is not yet confirmed. No wrongdoing is alleged.
• Fact: Separately, federal returns to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which use financial years and different categories, record Programmed paying ALP WA alone $61,050 from 2020-21 to 2024-25 and Perdaman $65,950 since 2020-21 (plus $30k in 2016-17), mostly as "other receipts" such as fundraiser tickets, not gifts (AEC Transparency Register). No wrongdoing is alleged.
• Correlation, not causation: Large donors that receive benefits tend to give to both major parties. That is consistent with buying access to whoever governs. We have found no evidence of any decision being bought.

3. Election-year cash

• Fact: Total receipts reported to the AEC by each WA branch ($m). These cover the whole branch, including state money, so they differ in scope from WAEC tables (AEC Transparency Register).

• Fact: Unions are among Labor's biggest named givers. ALP WA's top itemised donors over 2017-25 include Perth Trades Hall, Labor's Business Roundtable fundraising vehicle ($200k), the CEPU-ETU ($175k), the United Workers Union ($157k), the CFMEU ($156k) and SDA entities (about $500k combined) (AEC Transparency Register).
• Fact: Some donors give to both sides. Australian Capital Equity gave $200k to each of Labor and the Liberals. Mineral Resources gave Labor $206k, the Liberals $287k and the Nationals $90k (AEC Transparency Register).
• Our read: Receipts spike in election years, and the biggest givers hedge their bets.

4. The revolving door

• Fact: Mark Reed was McGowan's strategic director from 2017 to 2022. He then opened the Perth office of the Labor-aligned lobbying firm Anacta, and in 2025 became WA Labor State Secretary (The West; Business News). Within about 5 months of resigning, ex-Premier McGowan took roles with BHP, Mineral Resources, Bondi Partners and APM (ABC). Ex-Treasurer Ben Wyatt joined the Woodside and Rio Tinto boards (Guardian).
• Fact: In July 2025 the Government cut the waiting period before ex-MPs can take paid government board roles to six months. The Government says it appoints former MPs "from all sides" (SMH).
• Our read: None of these moves breaks WA rules. That's the point: the rules are weak.

5. Unions fund the party that sets their members' pay

• Fact: Union affiliation fees to Labor came to $146,844.64 in Jul–Sep 2024, about 11% of Labor's total. The largest were the SDA ($46,899) and United Workers Union ($45,740) (ABC). At the 2025 election, third-party spending included the ANF (WA) at $231,880, the UWU at $71,902 and WALGA at $290,006 (WAEC).
• Our read: Public sector unions fund the party that negotiates their wages. WALGA's campaign money ultimately comes from ratepayers.

6. Taxpayers fund the lobby for more taxpayer funding

• Fact: ACNC 2024 data shows 17 of 22 WA peak bodies get more than 70% of their revenue from government. Examples: WACOSS 84.9%, Shelter WA 90.4%, WANADA 90.2%, Carers WA 98.0%, Aboriginal Health Council of WA 94.1% (ACNC). WACOSS's own annual report lists election-period "wins" from its "campaigning and advocacy", including funding uplifts (WACOSS AR 2025).
• Fact: Many large WA charities rely almost entirely on government money (all levels of government, including federal NDIS and aged-care funding). Rocky Bay gets 99.1% of its income from government, MY PLACE 98.7%, Avivo 97.4% and UnitingCare West 91.0% (ACNC 2024).
• Fact (fair counterpoint): The green groups that campaigned in 2025 are not government-funded. Lock the Gate gets 0% and the Conservation Council 0.9% (ACNC).
• Our read: The pattern applies to social-services peak bodies. It's legal and openly described as advocacy. We just don't think taxpayers should fund it.

7. Gaps in the new disclosure rules

• Fact: Since 1 Jul 2024, donations over $2,600 must be disclosed within 7 days. The Government's original proposal was a $1,000 threshold. There is no cap on donations (WAEC). Property developers can donate in WA, which they can't in NSW or Queensland (ABC tracker).
• Fact: The lobbyist register covers only third-party lobbyists. In-house corporate lobbyists, unions and peak bodies lobbying for themselves are not covered, and ministerial diaries are not published (Lobbyist Code; CI16).

8. No real cooling-off period for ministers

• Fact: WA has no ban on former ministers lobbying. The Ministerial Code (2023, cl. 18) only says ministers "should exercise care" in taking jobs after leaving office. The only hard rule is s.14 of the Integrity (Lobbyists) Act 2016: former MPs and senior executives can't register as lobbyists for 12 months, and in-house lobbying isn't covered. Federal ministers, by contrast, are banned from lobbying on their former portfolio matters for 18 months (Ministerial Code 2023; WA post-separation guidance; federal Code).

What we'd do: Sunlight, not bans

• Real-time disclosure (within 48 hours, all year) of every political contribution over $1,000, including event tickets and roundtable fees.
• No taxpayer-funded advocacy: organisations getting more than 50% of their revenue from government can't spend it on lobbying or campaigning, and must publish their advocacy spending.
• Register in-house lobbyists, unions and peak bodies, and publish ministerial diaries every quarter.
• A searchable contracts and grants register, cross-matched with donor returns.
• A two-year cooling-off period for ministers and senior staff.