The top agriculture-related organisations handing money to Australia's political parties has been revealed in new data released by the Australian Electoral Commission.
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And while the agricultural sector and Labor government's are not traditional bedfellows, donors have shelled out big to the ALP after Anthony Albanese moved into the Lodge, while widely snubbing Liberal and National party coffers.
Heading the list of political donations and 'other receipts' for 2022-23 was conglomerate Wesfarmers, a registry regular that deals in chemicals and fertilisers as well as retail, with $110,000 to Labor.
This was followed by ethanol producer and flour miller the Manildra Group that gave $81,000 to the ALP, while $48,000 left representative body the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance and went into ALP party coffers only.
Meanwhile, Apple and Pear Australia made a $14,000 payment to Labor, AUSVEG tipped in $11,000 and both the Red Meat Advisory Council and the Australian Food and Grocery Council handed over $5000 each.
The grains sector also tipped some bread into Labor financial silos with the party receiving $38,000 from GrainGrowers for an Australian Labor Business Forum membership, $33,000 from GrainCorp and $21,000 from WA's grain CBH Group.
Fertiliser powerhouse Bayer Australia Ltd gave $33,000 to Labor in 2022-23.
The nation's largest sugar producer the Wilmar Sugar Group - makers of CSR and Equal products - gave $49,500 to the ALP and the Australian Sugar Milling Council $16,500.
The Independent Grocers' Association ($32,900), the Woolworths Group ($11,000) and Aussie Farmers Mutual ($11,000) also handed over only to the ALP.
Interestingly, two organisations representing members adversely impacted by Labor policies at a federal or state level also donated money to the party.
The Australian Forest Products Association, which is fighting against native forest logging bans, pledged $16,500.
While the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council gave $1500 despite rallying against Labor's proposed ban of the live sheep by sea export industry.
Overall, the AEC data showed Australia's political parties large and small raised a collective $259 million in 2022-23.
Despite the targeted ALP donations, the Coalition collected more money overall with $125m compared to Labor's $84m.
Those figures are made up of reported donations and 'other receipts', such as AEC funding and things like payments to attend a parties' business forum and dinners, membership fees and asset sales.
Several companies, including Wesfarmers, however backed more than one horse in donating to both Labor and the Liberals. These included the Minerals Council of Australia, Australian Trucking Association and global shipping giant DP World, which inked a deal with unions on Friday ending a protracted wharf dispute.
While the National Party also largely missed out from the agricultural sector's wallet opening, Manildra was one company that did make a donation ($20,000).
Meanwhile, carbon and energy companies, that will increasingly work with agriculture groups through Labor's push to net-zero 2050, also dug deep.
These ranged from energy distributor EDL ($14,000) to the Clean Energy Council ($11,000) and the Albury-based carbon farming company Agriprove ($2000).
The big money put on the record by the parties however is not total income as disclosure laws do not force donations below $15,200 to be registered.
A federal parliamentary inquiry into the 2022 election recommended that the flow of money into Australian politics be better managed and regulated by mechanisms such as lowering donation disclosure thresholds to $1000, introducing 'real time' reporting and caps on federal election spending.
