How multimillionaire coal investor’s family donated $100,000 to Australia’s most famous climate change warrior
- Independent MP Zali Steggall handed $100,000 donation before 2019 election
- The Trust is headed by former coal investor and multimillionaire John Kinghorn
Independent MP Zali Steggall
An independent MP passionate about stopping climate change and improving integrity in politics received a $100,000 cheque from a former multimillionaire coal investor’s family trust to help her campaign.
Zali Steggall, the MP for Warringah on Sydney‘s northern beaches, was given the money in March 2019 by the Kinghorn Family Trust, headed by tycoon John Kinghorn.
It was the biggest single donation she received in her successful campaign to oust former Liberal Prime Minister and climate change sceptic Tony Abbott, reported Nine Newspapers.
Mr Kinghorn, 80, is the founder of RAMS home loans and previously the director of Cascade Coal and Felix Resources, which was sold to a Chinese company for $3.5billion in 2009.
Ms Steggall did not declare the cash at the time because she received eight individual ‘pledges’ from Kinghorn family members for $12,500 each, below the declaration threshold of $13,800.
But the Australian Electoral Commission deemed the payment to be one donation and ordered her to disclose it.
‘Notwithstanding the donation consisted of eight individual pledges, one cheque of $100,000 was given to Warringah Independent Ltd from The Kinghorn Family Trust,’ it said after a review.
‘Under the Electoral Act, the details of individual receipts exceeding the threshold must be disclosed in the annual disclosure return.’
Tycoon John Kinghorn pictured in 2012
In a statement on her Twitter account on Monday, Ms Steggall denied she had ‘failed to declare’ the donation, as Nine Newspapers wrote in its headline.
She said she had disclosed the money in November 2019 but changed her return after the AEC review in January 2021.
‘I received eight individual pledges from a large family living in my electorate. The AEC later considered it to be one single donation, so the return was amended in 2021 to reflect that,’ she said.
‘The money donated was at all times disclosed.’
Ms Steggall said there was nothing wrong with accepting money from former fossil fuel investors.
‘If you ruled out taking donations from anyone who has invested in coal at one time or another, you pretty well rule out everyone as most people have, through their superannuation,’ she said.
‘What is important is for people to now turn away from fossil fuel investment and support Australia’s transition to clean energy and support MPs with solutions.’