Jubilant David Pocock supporters on election night event. Photo: David Pocock Facebook.
Two of the bigger donors to Senator David Pocock’s successful Senate campaign have come forward as the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) publishes details of some of the political donations from May’s federal election.
The AEC publishes election returns 24 weeks after polling day, but most of the information will be in the annual disclosure data released on the first working day in February each year, including for Senator Pocock.
But Boundless Earth, a charity founded by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, and financial trader Rob Keldoulis, have voluntarily disclosed their donations to the David Pocock Party.
Boundless Earth gave $50,000, while Mr Keldoulis donated $224,000.
Senator Pocock also received donations from the Climate 200 group, and the returns show Boundless Earth ($1,115,000) and Mr Kledoulis ($1,102,000) as the two biggest contributors to Climate 200.
The ACT had the highest number of donors to Climate 200 of any electorate at 1596.
All up, 11,200 Australians donated a total of $13 million to support 23 community-backed candidates.
Senator David Pocock welcomed this disclosure and again thanked all of the supporters who gave their time and financial support, large and small, during this year’s federal election.
“We made history at the federal election, giving the ACT an independent voice standing up for our community in the parliament for the first time,” Senator Pocock said.
“That would not have been possible without the support of people right across the ACT.”
Senator Pocock said the more than 2200 volunteers who gave their time to the campaign were a huge part of why he was now sitting in the Senate.
“But campaigns also need funding to succeed and every single person who donated to the campaign made a difference. I thank all of them for their generosity,” he said.
“Details of some larger donors to my campaign were also disclosed today. I thank them for their contribution and support of the vision we had to help build a better future.”
Senator Pocock has backed an overhaul of political donation rules in his recent submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.
“I look forward to working through the current parliament to progress reforms so that we can have a much more timely and transparent political donations framework,” Senator Pocock said.
“There is a lot of work to do to bring electoral laws in line with community expectations on everything from truth in political advertising to adequate and fair representation for the ACT and NT.”
At present, only donations over $14,500 need be disclosed.
The AEC will publish full details of donations to the David Pocock Party on 1 February 2023.
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