Democracy for Sale

Norman Thompson  Crikey  22 July 2010

The Warringah Club has organised a "gala" fund raising dinner for Tony Abbott.  For $220 a person, you can meet Abbott, hear radio personality Alan Jones entertain the crowd and participate in the usual raffle and auction at the event. 

But The Warringah Club, which has been embroiled in controversy in the past few years over the lack of transparency of the source of its income, is having all money raised funneled through the NSW Liberal Party head office.  So yet again, the public will never know who are a Liberal Party candidate's financial supporters.

Lee Rhiannon The Drum Unleashed 14 June 2010

NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon challenges Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey's public claims about donations to Labor and the Coalition from the mining industry.

Malcolm Knox Sydney Morning Herald 15 May 2010

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon and Democracy4Sale researcher Dr Norman Thompson have called for an audit into one of Tony Abbott's major political donors for breaches of electoral laws going back to 2001.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon and Norman Thompson Media Release 15 May 2010

Research by the Greens Democracy4Sale political donations project has found that The Warringah Club based in Brookvale NSW, which is a major political donor to the Liberal opposition leader Tony Abbott, has failed to meet its disclosure requirements under federal and NSW electoral laws over a nine year period, even following action taken by the NSW Crown Solicitor's office.