REVEALED: Hospitality companies among Australia’s biggest political donors

Random Australian dollar banknotes (cash, currency) spread out. Horizontal, copy space, no complete notes displayed.

The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) has been named as one of the biggest spenders in the country when it comes to political donations.

In total, AHA dropped a whopping $1.1 million in political donations from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, with more than $600,000 going to the Coalition and almost $450,000 going to Labor.

State wise, South Australia copped the brunt of AHA’s donations, with their SA division donating just under $325,000 followed by NSW, which donated $294,092.

Tasmania copped $269,750, all of which was received by the Liberal party, following Labor’s anti-pokies campaign in the state.

The remaining $211,044 was donated by AHA’s federal division who notably dropped $76,000 on the ALP.

Last year, the AHA only donated a total of $201,200 but with a federal election taking place before 19 May, the association has upped its game significantly.

Another notably big spender was Crown Resorts, which donated $180,638 all up, with the Coalition getting over $90,000 and Labour receiving almost $80,000. Their focus was on WA, dropping 96,170 on the state in total.

Kalis Hospitality and Meriton Properties donated $70,000 and $50,000 respectively and Toga Group gave up just over $15,000.

As a point of reference, the largest donation came from Vapold Pty Ltd, which donated $2.3 million to the Liberal Party and The Electrical Trades Union which made a $1.1 million contribution to Labor.

Travel Weekly has reached out to the AHA for comment.

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