Australian PM Turnbull accused of buying election after $1.3 million political donation
Australia’s wealthy prime minister has revealed that he donated A$1.75 million (US$1.3 million) to his cash-strapped party’s re-election campaign last year, prompting his opponents to accuse him of buying the election victory.
I’ve always been prepared to put my money where my mouth is
But he confirmed the figure late on Wednesday, despite being legally entitled to conceal it for another year. “I’ve always been prepared to put my money where my mouth is,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corporation.“I put my money into ensuring that we didn’t have a Labor government,” he added, referring to the centre-left Labor Party opposition.
Secrecy surrounding the size of Turnbull’s donation has added to calls for Australia to reform its political donation laws to ensure more transparency.
Labor’s finance spokesman Jim Chalmers on Thursday accused Turnbull of buying the election in which the coalition clung to power with the barest majority of 76 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
“It stinks. Malcolm Turnbull had to buy his way out of trouble,” Chalmers said. “If Malcolm Turnbull didn’t have A$1.75 million to splash about, he wouldn’t be the leader of the Liberal Party and he wouldn’t be the prime minister,” Chalmers added.
Treasurer Scott Morrison described Chalmers’s comments as “a grubby political smear from grubby political hack”.
