Political transparency
Politicians get into power by campaigning. The better funded a campaign the more likely a candidate is to get into office. Taking donations from interested parties always has a price. Taking Australia as an example, public funding for campaigning has been debated[1]. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) publishes some open data about political donations[2] however its raw form it is difficult to digest so we illustrated it to make it more palatable (see below).
The data shows many leads, however a lot are dead ends. It seems donors can sometimes hide their identities behind associated entities[3].
Graph 1: Donations made to each politician.
Out of 151 MPs and 76 senators, 40 have disclosed donations to their campaign. This graph break down the donations given to individual MPs by their source. Additionally, you can type in a name of an Australian political candidate and it will show who their main financial contributors are.
Graph 2: Third Party Return Expenditure.
Graph 3: Third Party Return Donations Received.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 4: Third Party Return Donations Made.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 5: Senate Groups and Candidate Return Summary
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 6: Senate Groups and Candidate Expenses
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 7: Senate Groups and Candidate Donations.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 8: Media Returns.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 9: Media Advertisement Details.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 10: Donor Return.
This graph shows you individual MPs
Graph 11: Donor Donations Received.
This graph shows you individual MPs
References
- ↑ https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Completed_Inquiries/em/political_funding/Report/Chapter6
- ↑ Annual disclosure return:https://www.aec.gov.au/parties_and_representatives/financial_disclosure/guides/donors/index.htm
- ↑ The Age: Are our politicians for sale?