Independent federal MP Zali Steggall has defended a $100,000 donation from the family trust of former coal company director John Kinghorn which the Australian Electoral Commission found was not properly declared to comply with disclosure laws.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that a compliance review undertaken by the AEC found that a $100,000 donation made to Steggall’s Warringah campaign from the Kinghorn Family Trust was split into eight separate donations that were under the disclosure threshold of $13,800.
Kinghorn is the founder of Rams home loans and a former director of Cascade Coal and Felix Resources.
According to the compliance report, the financial controller of Warringah Independent Ltd – the entity controlling Steggall’s campaign finances – advised AEC that the donation of $100,000 from the Kinghorn Family Trust consisted of eight individual donation amounts from Kinghorn family members.
At the time, the financial controller of the Warringah campaign was Damien Hodgkinson, who is now a director of Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 movement, which is supporting independent MPs prioritising climate action.
“He [the financial controller] provided eight individual pledge forms and donation receipts generated by Warringah Independent Ltd to the Kinghorn family members,” the report said.
“Notwithstanding the donation consisted of eight individual pledges, one cheque of $100,000 was given to Warringah Independent Ltd from The Kinghorn Family Trust.
“Under the Electoral Act, the details of individual receipts exceeding the threshold must be disclosed in the annual disclosure return.”
Steggall said she had received more than 1,700 individual donations ahead of the 2019 election and the eight individual pledges had come from a “large family living in my electorate”.
“These are donations from a number of members of a large family who nearly all live in Warringah. If you ruled out taking donations from anyone who has invested in coal at one time or another, you pretty much rule out everyone as most people have through their superannuation,” Steggall said in a statement.
“What is important is for people to now turn away from fossil fuel investment and support Australia’s transition to clean energy and support MPs with solutions.”
Steggall has become a vocal advocate for greater action on climate change policy, including through the introduction of a private member’s bill that would establish an independent climate change commission and introduce risk assessment and adaptation plans to work towards carbon neutrality.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who is pursuing campaign donation reform through a private member’s bill to be moved on Monday, said there remained a pressing need for political donation reform in Australia.
He said: “To that end, I moved a private member’s bill today that requires real-time disclosure, lowers the donation disclosure threshold to $1,000 aggregated, implements caps on donations and electoral expenditure, expands the definition of gift, and prohibits political donations from particular industries, including fossil-fuel entities, gambling companies, liquor companies and the tobacco industry.”
