$3000 Post-Budget lunches but no political donations says SMC

The industry funds-focused Super Members Council (SMC) has vowed that it does not make political donations while declaring that $3,000 it spent attending post-Budget briefings organised by the Government and Federal Opposition was not exceptional.

In doing so, the SMC said that NSW Liberal Party Senator and chair of the Senate Economics References Committee, Andrew Bragg, was incorrect to have asserted that the SMC did make political donations.

It said that by attending the post-Budget functions it was following common practice.

What is more it suggested that the Government’s accounting of money paid by attendees had been somewhat more transparent than that of the Federal Opposition.

“Like a wide array of business, industry and policy bodies, the organisation attended two events in Federal Budget Week 2024 held by both the Government and Opposition to better understand the policy priorities and Budget strategy that shaped both the Budget and Budget-in-Reply, as part of the organisation’s work advocating in the best financial interests of 11 million super fund members,” it said.

“Attendance at both annual events is common practice for a large number of national policy advocacy organisations, businesses and peak bodies that advocate for the interests of Australians on issues across industries that contribute to the nation’s economy.

“These commonplace attendances by organisations are recorded as ‘other receipts’ on the AEC transparency register to distinguish them clearly in transparency reporting from ‘donations received’.

“The same amount was paid for attendances at both events – $3,000.

“The 2023/24 AEC transparency register discloses this attendance as an ‘other receipt’ for the Federal Government event. The Federal Opposition’s Budget-In-Reply event does not appear in the AEC disclosures as it does not appear to self-report receipts below the legislated threshold of $16,300,” the SMC said.