Winning votes might be a better strategy than wining and dining the rich
The reality is that political donations from harmful industries are small relative to the payments parties receive from you, the voter.
Australia provides taxpayer funding to parties and candidates based on how many votes they receive. At the May 2025 federal election, each voter was worth around $6.80 in public funding, and that will rise to $10 at the next election – that’s $5 each for ballots for the House of Representatives and Senate.
Labor got $37 million in taxpayer funding after the 2025 election, the Liberal–National Coalition $33 million, the Greens $13 million and One Nation $6 million.
It pays to be popular. Winning the vote of an extra 1% of Australians (about 160,000 people) is worth $1.1 million, set to rise from next year to $1.6 million.
Learnt a lot I didn't know.
