Cormack Foundation is a multimillion-dollar investment group for the Liberal party and one of its biggest single donors
A Liberal party investment group donated $500,000 to the rightwing advocacy group Advance last financial year, fuelling speculation from the Greens the two are teaming up to take out the minor party’s influence in the upcoming federal election.
Advance, which has pledged to “expose” the Greens as Australia’s “biggest threat to freedom, security and prosperity”, received more than $15.6m in the 2023-24 financial year, up from $5.2m the year prior, according to the latest Australian Electoral Commission annual donation disclosure figures.
Just $914,000, or 5.8%, of the donations’ sources are known with the remaining $14.8m not publicly declared, sometimes referred to as “dark money”.
Political parties and significant third parties such as Advance are only required to declare the source of donations and other payments that are above a certain threshold, which for 2023-24 was $16,300. It has increased to $16,900 this financial year.
Advance’s largest declared donor was the Cormack Foundation, best known as a multimillion-dollar investment vehicle for the Liberal party and one of the party’s biggest single donors.
Guardian Australia contacted the foundation to ask why it donated the funds but it declined to respond.
An Advance spokesman said it did not comment on individual donors but claimed the more than 30,000 donors gave money because of “their commitment to Australia’s freedom, security and prosperity”.
“The 34,819 Australians who have contributed their own money to Advance – whether it’s $50 or $500,000 – do so because we campaign aggressively to defend and promote these fundamental Australian values,” the spokesperson said.
Declared donations to Advance in 2023-24
The Greens senator Larissa Waters said Advance’s donations came from “Australia’s richest people” who were “desperately trying to stop the surge of Greens and independents”.
“The Cormack Foundation has long been a major backer of the Coalition, and its support for Advance underscores the deep relationship between big money and the political parties that benefit from it,” she said.
“We need to act now to stop this corporate control of our democracy, and the Greens will continue to lead the charge for transparency, accountability, and real electoral reform.”
At a campaign rally in January, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, used similar language to Advance’s campaign, labelling the minor party “extreme”.
“Under Adam Bandt, the Greens have morphed from being environmentalists to being extremists,” he said.
Advance has long insisted it is not affiliated with any political party, noting in its 2023-24 financial report it is “independent from business, unions, political parties and religious institutions and/or organisations”.
Advance is embarking on a campaign to decimate the Greens’ primary vote at the upcoming polls. Its executive director, Matthew Sheahan, told an event last July the minor party was “toxic” and “anti-capitalist”.
At the 2022 federal election, the Greens won 12.3% of the vote on first preferences, or about 1.8m votes. The party gained three lower house seats and another six Senate seats, bringing its total in federal parliament to 16. After Lidia Thorpe’s exit in 2023, the party enters election season with 15 members across both houses.
Sheahan revealed in July the group would geo-target soft Greens voters – women aged between 33 and 49 – to convince them the Greens were not the same party founded 32 years ago.
Advance’s 2025 federal election target is to lower the Greens’ vote by 2% in the House of Representatives and 4% in the upper house, Sheahan said. The long-term goal is to get the Greens’ primary vote down to 4-5%.
Five other donors provided Advance with donations of $50,000 each, including JMR Management Consultancy Services Pty Ltd, which lists Brett Ralph as its director.
Ralph is also a director of the NRL team Melbourne Storm and other sporting teams.
Henroth Investments Pty Ltd also handed the group $50,000 in 2023-24. One of its directors, John Roth, is also a director of the gelato chain Gelatissimo and the husband of the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal.
Guardian Australia has contacted Roth and Ralph for comment.
In Advance’s 2023-24 financial report, the group said it existed to “give everyday Australians a voice to counter the radical left-wing organisations that seek to change our way of life”.
It recorded $3.4m in donations for the financial year, in addition to $9m in “other revenue”. The revenue was primarily derived from “service income” – $8.8m – and more than $100,000 in merchandise sales.
