Australia’s richest businesspeople have become major backers of conservative lobby group Advance Australia, which helped lead the “no” campaign at the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum.
Trevor St Baker’s St Baker Enterprises donated $50,000 to the group, updated Australian Electoral Commission disclosures show from the 2022-23 financial year.
St Baker, worth $1.2 billion according to the 2023 Australian Financial Review Rich List, sold the Vales Point coal power station in NSW for several hundred million in 2022 to Czech coal baron Pavel Tykac.
Entrepreneur businessman Steve Baxter backed Advance Australia. Dan Peled
Former Shark Tank judge and serial tech investor Steve Baxter donated $20,000 to Advance Australia through his company Pesca Aviation. Mr Baxter told The AFR he had been to pre-founding meetings of the group and knew its executive director, Matthew Sheahan. He said he donated in part because the referendum “was diabolical and needed to be defeated”.
Mr Baxter has been recently trying to sell a new defence-focused venture capital fund to backers.
“People don’t seem to have issues with people backing GetUp. Why is it not OK to back Advance?” he said. Asked why he had not focused his donations on the Liberal Party, he said: “I don’t think the Coalition is very conservative.”
The largest backer of Advance was Perth car dealer Brian Anderson, in his 90s, who donated $1 million through his company Hadley Holdings. It was not the only westerly donation the conservative lobby group attracted. One of Perth’s wealthiest families, the Martins, donated $20,000 through their company, Coogee Chemicals.
Kennards Self Storage’s Sam Kennard, an early backer of Advance and board member of the Centre for Independent Studies, gave $115,000 through his company Siesta Holdings.
Bakers Delight founder Roger Gillespie donated $20,000 to Advance and $14,000 to the Liberal Party in late 2022. Mr Gillespie told The Financial Review he backed the group due to its position on the referendum.
Ronald Pitcher AM, founder of accounting firm Pitcher Partners, donated $32,500 to Advance in the 2022-23 financial year.
Kenneth Warriner, the former chief executive of Consolidated Pastoral and friend of the late Kerry Packer, donated $20,000 to Advance, and Marcus Blackmore, who publicly backed the “no” campaign in the Voice referendum, donated $25,000.
Melbourne Storm director and transport businessman Brett Ralph donated $50,000 to Advance through his company, JMR Management Consultancy Services.
On the other end of the spectrum, investor Simon Holmes à Court’s progressive election-financing organisation, Climate 200, attracted donations from younger technology entrepreneurs to older members of the Australian establishment.
Nick and Sandra Fairfax donated $20,000 to Climate 200. “Sandra and I are convinced that the most meaningful way to get action on climate change and other issues, such as integrity, is to back independent candidates,” Nick has previously said on social media.
The largest donation was $1 million from Marcus Catsaras, an Australian-born, Tokyo-based energy trader, and chief investment officer of StepChange, which sells its weather forecasting tools.
Heaps Normal, the non-alcoholic beer company, donated $17,775, while GreenCollar’s James Schultz donated $50,000 to the group.
Sydney share trader Robert Keldoulis personally donated $702,113 to Climate 200, and a further $365,430 through his business Keldoulis Investments.
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