The campaigners who pushed for a Voice to parliament received tens of millions more financial donations than groups opposed to the reconciliation movement, new data shows.
The Australian Electoral Commission has released new figures detailing the sums received and expended by political parties and lobby groups involved in last year’s referendum campaign, which was defeated by a 60-40 margin.
The campaign director of Yes23, Dean Parkin, speaks on the night of the referendum defeat.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The disclosures show major groups tied to the Yes campaign raked in more than $60 million, which was spent on advertising and other campaign material. Yes23 fundraising body Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition received $47.5 million, and the Uluru Dialogues group – via the University of NSW – received more than $11 million.
Left-wing group GetUp! gathered $1.7 million and the Labor Party secured $400,000.
On the No side, the group led by senator Jacinta Nampajinpa Price, Australians for Unity, received about $11 million, the Liberal Party gained $1.9 million, and high-profile campaigners Advance solicited $1.3 million.
The biggest individual donors were the Paul Ramsay Foundation – founded through a bequest from the Australian business of the same name – which gave $7 million to the main pro-Voice group.
MYOB founder Craig Winkler’s firm gave $4.5 million to the Yes-aligned Uluru Dialogues.
ANZ bank gave $2.5 million to Yes23, while Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, BHP, Rio Tinto, Woolworths Group and Woodside Energy all gave upwards of a million dollars to the same group.