Following the money in council elections
In the fictional world of detective novels and thrillers, it’s a standard cliché to ‘follow the money.’ In the world of local politics, the money trail is interesting, although a little less dramatic but maybe just as mysterious and with a few tricky plot twists.
Campaign donations must be declared
Section 306 of the Local Government Act (Act) says all candidates in an election must submit an election Campaign Donation Return (CDR) within 40 days after the election. As per the legislation, each return must be submitted to the Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO). (Source)
The returns in Port Phillip have now been published by Council, you can read them here.
Here are some observations about the donations.
Headline #1
Much more donated in 2024 than 2020
Total donations reported in 2020 were $134,245, compared to $195,064 in 2024. Several factors could have contributed to this. Remember 2020 was the old three wards with three councillors each, and it was in COVID – Yikes! In 2024 there were 9 wards with a total of 48 candidates.
Headline #2
Donations don’t show the full picture
It’s apparent that the donation reports do not include the personal expenditure of many candidates. For example, in Montague, three out of five candidate reported nil donations. But more about that later.
Headline #3
Political parties or quasi-parties were the source of 70% of support
The biggest organisational donor was Residents of Port Phillip (RoPP) with total donations of $67,412 or an average of $16,856 per candidate. RoPP’s Bryan Mears also received $3,500 from the Queens Lane Resident Action Group.
The Green Party Victoria and Port Phillip Greens were not far behind with donations of $55,197, with candidates getting an average of $6,899 each.
The ALP was more modest with $1,250 declared by each candidate except Barney Moore (nil), making a total of $8,750.
Some PEPP candidates received donations valued at $1,400 each, totalling $7,000. PEPP convenor Serge Thomann received $22,502 in individual donations including the highest individual donation of $15,000 from long term fan of the skatepark.
Headline #4
Some candidates declared nil donations.
Deep personal pockets maybe, but clearly election campaigns cost money – in previous returns some candidates declared their own contributions to the campaign costs.
Here are the candidates that declared nil donations:
Albert Park: Joan B. Lamb and Rhonda Small
Alma: Dick Gross and Justin Halliday
Balaclava: Berri Wajsbort, Alex Kats and Michelle Di Donna
Elwood: Sally Gibson
Lakeside: Levi Silcox and Barney Moore
Montague: Alex Makin, David Knoff and Judy Sahayanathan
Port Melbourne: Adrian William King.
Headline #5
Transparency questions remain
With the biggest donor being RoPP, especially as they have three councillors, it would be interesting to know more about the source of those funds. Equally, it’s important to know the source of funds spent by the other groups that sought to influence the outcome – including Progressive Port Phillip.
Anticipating this question, PPP provided TWiSK with this statement about their funding. We would welcome similar disclosure from RoPP and PEEP.
Update (23 Dec 24): PEPP funding sources supplied by Serge Thomann
“For your information, as per the question raised in your story, PEPP conducted 2 fundraising events: the premiere of the French movie A little something extra (with 150 people) and a diner at Captain Baxter (nearly 100 people). These 2 fundraisers allowed the donation of $1400 to each PEPP candidate. This paid for the corflutes and the first lot of flyers.”
