There should never be a dollar value that buys our democracy. And yet alcohol and gambling companies are donating millions of dollars to Australian political parties in a pattern that peaks just before election time. These companies, whose products cause so much harm in Australian society, should not be able to donate to political parties at all.
In February, the Australian Electoral Commission released an update to its Transparency Register for 2024-25, which revealed that donations from alcohol and gambling companies and their lobby groups more than doubled in the year of the Federal election, reaching a new high of $5.5 million.
This donation pattern raises an important question: just what return on investment are these companies looking for?
And what does that mean for the community at large?
It seems self-evident that alcohol and gambling companies are seeking to buy access and influence in Australia’s corridors of power.
They don’t donate out of altruism; they want a return on their investment. And their intent is to protect industry profits by influencing government decisions.
These are industries whose products cause immense harm in society. The price we pay because of their political influence is poorer outcomes for our community’s health and wellbeing.
Donations spike around policy discussions – and elections
As the Alliance for Gambling Reform CEO Martin Thomas pointed out in our shared media statement in February, harmful industry donations are made in “cynical” patterns.
The rivers of money flow stronger into political coffers when key decision-makers contemplate new reforms – such as a phase-out of online gambling advertising.
But this pattern is not only confined to policy considerations: It’s also observed around election campaigns. Of the previous four financial years that included a federal election, three saw a jump in the amount of donation dollars from alcohol and gambling. Last year’s total signified the highest amount tracked in at least the last 15 years.
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What does a donation buy?
Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen several significant policy decisions in recent years that benefit the alcohol industry and that occur alongside periods of substantial reported donations from industry groups.
Take the Federal Government’s decision to freeze indexation on draught beer tax.
During the three years leading up to 2024–25, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) reported $2.85 million in donations to the Australian Labor Party. Of this amount, $1.94 million was reported in the same financial year the beer tax freeze was announced. These are publicly available figures, and their timing provides useful context when examining the broader policy environment.
At the time of the announcement, the Prime Minister framed the tax freeze as a major win for beer drinkers.
However, the regulation’s explanatory material makes clear that “No price reduction [is] expected” to be passed on to the public.
The practical outcome is that the Government has foregone $95 million in revenue, with the financial benefit accruing to hotels, businesses represented by the AHA.
Another example: Uber and DoorDash are two big-donating companies who are opposing common-sense safeguards on alcohol home-delivery.
These are reforms that would help to keep women and children safe from violence, which is exacerbated by rapid late-night alcohol deliveries.
The companies’ lobbying has been accompanied by collective donations of $1.1 million to the major parties in 2024-25.
And so far we’ve seen States and Territories continue to drag their heels on making these reforms.
Companies invest in the status quo
As this example demonstrates, return on investment for the alcohol and gambling industry doesn’t necessarily mean the creation of new pro-industry laws and policies. Donations also work to stall or scuttle public health reforms that would alleviate the burden of alcohol and gambling-related illness, injury and other harms.
Lobbying and donating creates inertia to preserve the status quo. That is, a continuation of the lightly regulated environment that allows these companies to continue making large profits.
Status quo looks like, for example, a failure to improve on the ineffectual voluntary regulatory schemes that are led by the industries instead of the government – like the Australian Beverages Advertising Code which governs (poorly) how alcohol can be advertised.
Or, status quo also looks like the failure to close the loophole that allows alcohol and gambling advertising to be televised during children’s viewing hours, as long as it’s a sports broadcast.
Donations are an insidious threat to democracy
Unlike ordinary citizens or community-based organisations, these multibillion-dollar industries have the capacity to spend millions of dollars to influence political processes.
Having the ability to buy access and stake a claim for a greater say in policy than the citizens who elected our politicians in the first place, is simply undemocratic.
Australia needs to reform its political funding model to put citizens and democratic ideals first. Some welcome changes are about to commence, which will at least improve transparency around the disclosure of political donations.
From July, any donations above $5,000 will now have to be disclosed. And near real-time reporting (instead of the current annual data drop) will be introduced.
But none of these reforms will inoculate public policy decisions from alcohol and gambling influence.
To truly ensure policy decisions are freed of this infection, and the community’s health and wellbeing is prioritised, Australia needs a ban on alcohol and gambling donations.
