State Capture: top corporations identified as members of both Liberal and Labor parties

Australia’s biggest companies are hiding millions of dollars in donations to the major political parties by buying Platinum, Gold and Silver corporate memberships. And it all flies under the radar because none of the money is officially disclosed as political donations.

The company doesn’t have to disclose the membership contributions while the political parties declare the memberships vaguely as “other receipts”.

Platinum membership costs a cool $110,000, gold $55,000 and silver $25,000. Amazingly, both the Liberal Party’s “Australian Business Network” and the Labor Party’s “Federal Labor Business Forum” charge identical fees for each of their membership tiers. (A cartel operation, Rod Sims?)

So companies that stand…