The Liberal Party in NSW is swimming in money, big business has got behind them in a big way...
The Libs aren't swimming in money at all, don't make the mistake of thinking that because they represent the rich that the party themselves are rich. The fact is they've got bugger all money, certainly not a fraction of the money the ALP has, and donors give to Governments of any flavour at three times the rate they give to Opposition parties...
The Sydney Morning Herald
12:26 AEST Mon Nov 7 2011
The NSW Liberal Party received more than double Labor's political donations last financial year and outstripped it in fundraising too. The state's Election Funding Authority (EFA) has also revealed the Liberals didn't borrow to fund their election campaign, unlike Labor, which borrowed heavily before its resounding defeat in March. When it came to fundraising events, the Liberals raised four times as much as the ALP, despite Labor offering a lunch and dinner with Prime Minister Julia Gillard ahead of last year's federal election.
In 12 months to the end of June this year, the NSW division of the Liberal Party received $9.2 million in political donations, figures published on the EFA website on Monday show. This included $803,600 in small donations and $8.4 million in larger donations from corporations. Labor received $3.76 million, of which $67,300 came from small donations and the rest from unions, the clubs and hotel lobby and big corporations. Unions alone gave Labor $565,000 in donations. Just before Christmas 2010 the state ALP borrowed $3 million, half of it from Unions NSW. The Transport Workers' Union lent $1 million while the Electrical Trades Union gave a $500,000 loan. The Australian Hotels Association also gave the ALP almost $80,000, with one $20,000 donation made on December 23, one week before a ban on donations from gaming interests came into force.
On the fundraising front, the Liberals drew $3.9 million to Labor's $889,000, which included $166,000 raised from a lunch and dinner with Ms Gillard shortly before the August 2010 federal election.
Now, I know what most people here, and in the rest of New South Wales, think of the state Labor machine but they're in much deeper shit than even we can envisage. The dead hand of the union movement has them well and securely held for quite some time. When will they ever learn?