Donation Transparency

2022 Campaign Funding Overview

Getting an Independent Member into the Federal Seat of North Sydney required the support of thousands of people and I am incredibly grateful to donors at all levels, including the many people who donated their time to volunteer and support the campaign.

Financially, the campaign received funding from over 900 Australians from across the community who wanted real action on climate change, integrity in government, gender equality and human rights.

In total, we raised $1,825,072:

• $1,577,362 (cash)
• $247,711 (in-kind including advertising and marketing expenses)

Climate 200’s funding played a crucial role in helping to level the playing field. The early support they provided to the campaign was important and helped ensure the people of North Sydney had the opportunity to vote for an Independent at the 2022 election. The funding we received was provided to assist in campaign costs, including advertising and marketing expenses.

As reported consistently throughout the campaign, we expected the Climate 200 funding would account for 35-40% of total campaign revenue. As can be seen in the final tally, this percentage was as predicted at 40%.

In total, Climate 200 contributed $636,271 in cash and $172,141 in-kind.

In North Sydney, we had the unique challenge of strong campaigns from both major parties and community donations to my campaign helped level the playing field for everyone. Under current election laws, we will never know precisely what the major parties raised or spent in North Sydney. The parties electoral returns will not be available until February 2023.

The reality is the major parties receive significant funds both throughout the year and during an election cycle and this gives them a huge advantage. To give the community of North Sydney a choice to vote for an Independent, it was critical that our campaign had the resources to ensure we could communicate with our community my priorities and how I would represent North Sydney in the Federal Parliament.

I support greater transparency in electoral funding reporting and improvements to the reporting system. I have made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to see real improvement in campaign financing and expenditure this term. You can see my submission here.