Political donations are a matter for all of us

August 1, 2026 — 5:00am

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“You can ask the question 100 times. I’ll give you the same answer.”

Whatever else one might choose to say about him, federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor is a man of his times. When politicians from the major parties, state or federal, are asked about donations, as he was this week after his name came up in Sydney hearings of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the wall descends.

Take Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is all about “engaging with people” but becomes strangely reticent when asked about the July 20 dinner he attended at a mansion in Point Piper, Sydney, where attendees were reportedly expected to donate about $10,000 a head to the Labor Party.

“I attend lots of dinners in lots of places, and I don’t talk about private dinners,” he said. Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek added that such things were “a matter for the party”.

Recently ousted premier Jacinta Allan sang from the same hymn sheet when she was questioned about donations to Victorian Labor’s 2022 campaign war chest by CFMEU-aligned building companies such as BK Labour and CCL.

Whoever it is, the party leader always seems to suddenly defer to the machinery when money is involved.

We are often assured – as Plibersek and Allan did – that the declaration regime around........

© Brisbane Times