Political donations: Anthony Pratt donates $1m to Labor before PM dinner, as names behind teal MPs revealed

Billionaires Anthony Pratt, Gina Rinehart, and Harry Triguboff were among the biggest donors to the major parties last financial year, handing over a combined $2 million ahead of the looming election.

Labor received $1 million from the packaging magnate through his Pratt Holdings Pty Ltd; while the Liberal Party benefitted $590,000 from Mr Triguboff’s Meriton Properties and $500,000 from Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

Mr Pratt — who has thrown his support behind US President Donald Trump — made the sizeable donation to Labor last January 11, around the same time Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came under pressure for attending a private function organised by the Visy chairman at his Melbourne mansion, which included a performance by Katy Perry.

The latest annual disclosures, released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday, comes as Labor tries to secure a deal to progress electoral reforms — including a crackdown on donation limits — through the senate.

Teal-backer Robert Keldoulis and his investment firm Keldoulis Investments Pty Limited was the biggest donor of the year — giving Climate 200 a combined $1.01 million in 2023-24.

Marcus Catsaras gave the group a further $1 million, with Climate 200 distributing $473,000 in donations to independent MPs, including $140,000 to Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel and $122,000 to Kooyong MP Monique Ryan.

Perth-based independent Kate Chaney received just over $29,000.

Reclusive Gold Coast gambler and mathematician Duncan Turpie donated $575,135 to various branches of the Greens.

Absent from the list this year was billionaire Clive Palmer, who has in the last few years funnelled tens of millions through his company Mineralogy into his United Australian Party — which has since been deregistered.

Betting companies also donated tens of thousands of dollars to Labor, which came as the Government mulled a crackdown on gambling advertising ultimately shelved. Sportsbet donated $88,000, Tabcorp $60,500 and Responsible Wagering Australia $66,000.

Mr Albanese confirmed on The Daily Aus’ podcast this week his Government had never drafted any legislation.

As they gear up for the election this year, the major parties both raked in more than $65m each in receipts — which includes donations, public funding and other types of payments.

The Labor Party received $67.5m, and the Liberal Party $66.3m.

The Greens took in about $9m through the national and state branches, while the National Party received $8.5m across the country.

The release of last year’s returns comes the day before Parliament resumes, for what could be the last sitting fortnight before the election, and as Labor tries again to pass sweeping electoral reforms that would crack down on donation limits.

Under the proposed reforms, political donations would be capped at about $800,000, the threshold would be lowered, payments would be disclosed in real-time, and the amount a candidate can spend in a seat would be limited.

Labor are in conversations with both the Coalition and the Greens and crossbench to try and get the legislation through the Senate before Parliament rises for the fortnight.

Cabinet minister Murray Watt insisted that Special Minister of State Don Farrell has “spent the summer consulting with both the opposition and other parties” about the new electoral laws.

“Labor doesn’t have a majority in the Senate. We do require the support of either the Opposition or the crossbench to get legislation through and that may require some degree of compromise,” he said.

However, multiple crossbench sources said they had not heard from the minister over summer.

Independent senator David Pocock and Member for Curtin Kate Chaney have offered a compromise to split up the mammoth piece of legislation.

Under the deal, they want the spending and donation caps scrutinised further while the rest of the changes, including real-time disclosure, are passed now.

They met Senator Farrell on Monday but left with a sense he was not open to a deal.

“It looks like there will be a stitch-up between the major parties that will make people pay more for less choice,” Ms Chaney told The Nightly.

“Nothing’s really changed other than it looks like it’s actually going to happen.

“The fact that neither David nor I heard anything over summer until the day before the sitting fortnight started would suggest that a deal, if it’s not done, then it’s very close to being done.”

Greens democracy spokeswoman Larissa Waters said there had been “the lightest of touch attempts at negotiations” by Labor.

“Despite very regular attempts by me and my office to try and have meaningful discussions, they have been incredibly light on.

“The impression that I have formed is that the Labor Party wants to do a deal with the Coalition, because the laws that they proposed would suit those two big parties very nicely, and they would make it harder for smaller parties, for independents and for anyone who’s not already in Parliament to actually be elected,” she said.

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie sees the legislation as a major party stitch-up but is open to further talks if the Government wants to come to her.

The legislation is listed for debate on Thursday.

Some within the Government are concerned about the electoral laws getting caught up in horse-trading on other priority legislation, including the production tax credits that Labor wants passed and a Greens bill to ban gambling advertising.