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Guild tops healthcare donations to political parties
Spending more than $600,000, the Pharmacy Guild was the biggest health-related donor to political parties last year.
Donations from lobby groups such as the Pharmacy Guild tend to rise during Federal Election years.
The Pharmacy Guild made the largest sum of donations to political parties by a healthcare entity last financial year, newly released records from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) show.
The Guild donated $600,170 in 2024–25, including in the lead up to May’s Federal Election.
The biggest beneficiary was the Labor Party, which received $359,800 from the Guild.
The Liberal Party received $117,080, while the National Party was donated $103,290 and the Country Liberal Party Northern Territory branch had a one-off donation of $20,000.
RACGP Vice President and WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman called the overall total ‘a significant amount of money’.
‘The key here is we should always keep in mind health policy must be evidence-led, not donor-led,’ she told newsGP.
‘And that we talk about healthcare and patients receiving the appropriate care they need based on decisions of safety and outcomes.’
The two largest Pharmacy Guild donations stood at $110,000 and $100,000, both of which went to the Labor Party’s Federal branch in March and April ahead of the May election.
Of the state and territory branches, the Labor NSW branch received the most with $59,400 in total, although the Western Australia branch had the single largest donation of $27,500.
After the Pharmacy Guild, the next largest healthcare-related donation came from the health insurance lobby group, Private Healthcare Australia, reaching $285,250.
The Pharmacy Guild total, while significantly higher than the previous few years, is not the highest donation recorded by the group.
That came in 2018–19, also an election year, when the Guild pumped $773,791 into political party coffers.
Last year’s amount was second to that, with the third highest coming in 2021–22, another election year, when donations reached $577,565.
‘The reality is we all work with government parties and government relations,’ Dr Raman said.
‘But the bottom line for us as GPs and for the RACGP is simple: patient safety, continuity, and value.
‘If I might just reiterate, health policy must be evidence-based and evidence-led, not donor-led.’
Later this year, electoral reforms will come into force in Australia, which include reducing the reporting threshold to $5000, bringing it down from $16,900 at the time of last year’s Federal Election.
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