LAST year, I highlighted Member for Kiama Gareth Ward’s invisible political donations after he submitted a “nil” return to the Election Funding Authority for the 2011 election. Not happy, Mr Ward launched a personal tirade against me but failed to respond to the issue of veiled donation disclosure. Perhaps this is why.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tucked within the NSW Liberal Party spreadsheet of several thousand donors sat several entries from the innocuous sounding “ITC Ltd”. ITC (now UOW Enterprises) is a controlled entity of the state-owned University of Wollongong. A 2011 ITC donor declaration showed thousands of dollars were provided to six Illawarra candidates – three Liberal and three Labor. A significantly larger slice went to the Liberals. And nothing to The Greens, minor parties or independents.
According to ITC, Mr Ward received $1200 for his campaign, second highest behind fellow Liberal candidate for Wollongong, Michelle Blicavs. Ward’s total was many times the paltry $150 given to his Labor opponent. Unlike other recipients, Mr Ward received his donations while simultaneously acting as a member on the University Council. Although ITC had its own board, University Council as the peak governing body of the university was required to “approve and monitor systems of control and accountability for the university, including in relation to controlled entities...”
Such donations raise a number of critical issues.
Why is a public sector organisation like the University of Wollongong or its controlled entities giving money to aspiring politicians at all? It’s perhaps not illegal, but it makes a mockery of tertiary education funding constraints when those funds are directed back to the personal campaigns of political masters instead of students.
Why were university donations skewed so much towards Liberal Party candidates during the 2011 election?
And what was Mr Ward doing accepting political largesse from the very entities he was tasked with overseeing as Member of the University Council?
M. Corrigan,
Vincentia.
