Friday, February 18, 2011

Hearts of Gold

"Between them, two large Jewish donors gave close to half-a-million dollars to the major political parties during 2010. Party donations from last year were released earlier this month by the Australian Electoral Commission. Among the most generous contributors were Westfield - established and still headed by Jewish businessman Frank Lowy. The shopping centre conglomerate donated more than $350,000, which was evenly split between the two parties. Westfield gave $182,670 to the Australian Labor Party, which went on to win Government, and $173,180 to the Liberal Party. Pratt Holdings, established by the late Richard Pratt and now run by his son Anthony, donated $125,000. The company showed its true colours, gifting $75,000 to the Liberal Party, but only $50,000 to the ALP." (Generous donors, The Australian Jewish News, 18/2/11)

Of course, such largesse stems solely from hearts of gold. Any suggestion that it translates into bipartisan support for Israel is strenuously rejected.

FYI, according to crikey.com.au, the ALP received $7.8 million in political donations for 09/10, while the Liberal Party received $6.3 million (Political donations give & take, Bernard Keane, 1/2/11).

1 comment:

brian said...

party donations = bribes
Shiolsnt this sort of thing be considered illegal?
or are these donations free of a strings?