Gina Rinehart, James Packer, and a network of wealthy business figures among major financial backers of right-wing lobby group Advance Australia prior to the 2025 election. Stephanie Tran reports.
In the 2024-25 financial year Advance reported $13.5 million in receipts. However, the sources of only $5.3 million of the funds is disclosed, leaving $8.2 million in “dark money”.
During the election, Advance spent $1.7 million on social media advertising promoting anti-immigration policies and took credit for “destroying” the Greens.
AEC Transparency data reveals its backers range from billionaires to the merely wealthy, as well as lawyers, including Zionist lobby scion Mark Leibler.
Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, Rinehart’s flagship mining company, was the largest donor to Advance in the 2024-25 financial year, contributing $895,000.
Members of the wealthy O’Neil family were also significant donors, making donations totalling $600,000 via multiple companies. Willimbury Pty Ltd donated $300,000, Sixmilebridge Pty Ltd $200,000, and Nedigi Pty Ltd $100,000 to Advance. Sixmilebridge also separately donated $130,000 to the Liberal Party. The O’Neil family have been a significant donor to Advance over multiple years.
SP Newcastle Pty Limited, associated with businessman Rob Milner, gave $250,000, though a corresponding donor return had not yet been filed.
Investment executive Angus Aitken, executive chair of Aitken Mount Capital Partners, donated $200,000.
Simon Fenwick, a director of the Institute of Public Affairs and co-founder of International Value Advisers, donated $50,000 in his own name in addition to $200,000 through Silver River Investment Holdings as trustee for the Fenwick Family Trust.
Billionaire heir James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings Pty Limited donated $150,000.
Other six-figure donors included storage billionaire Sam Kennard (via Siesta Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, $125,000), Perth car dealer Brian Anderson ($100,000, in addition to $150,000 to the Liberal party), fund manager Peter Cooper (PCI Pty Ltd, $100,000), hotel owner and lawyer Michael O’Hara (Paslibdan Pty Ltd, $100,000), and earthmoving company founder Quentin Birt ($100,000).
Mark Leibler
Some donations flowed through opaque private trusts. The Harbig Cunningham Trust donated $100,000. Harbig Nominees Pty Ltd, is the nominee company that holds assets on behalf of the trust.
Shareholders in Harbig Nominees include Mark Leibler (49 shares), Anne Neate (50 shares) and Richard Harbig (1 share). Richard Harbig is a Melbourne businessman and is also a director of the Harbig Family Foundation.
Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
According to SMH reporting, several major Advance donors have links to charities associated with the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a conservative religious sect formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren.
Rod Tunley donated $246,000, and David Steele $226,500. Both are listed as trustees in charities linked to the church. Andrew Gillies donated $145,000, while Gavin Grace and Peter Grace gave $18,500 each.
2024-25 Advance donors
- Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd: $895,000
- Willimbury Pty Ltd: $300,000
- SP Newcastle Pty Limited: $250,000
- Rod Tunley: $246,000
- David Steele: $226,500
- Angus Aitken: $200,000
- Silver River Investment Holdings ATF Fenwick Family Trust: $200,000
- Sixmilebridge Pty Limited: $200,000
- Consolidated Press Holdings Pty Limited: $150,000
- Andrew Gillies: $145,000
- Siesta Holdings Australia Pty Ltd: $125,000
- Brian Anderson: $100,000
- Harbig Cunningham Trust: $100,000
- John Hull: $100,000
- Nedigi Pty Ltd: $100,000
- Paslibdan Pty Ltd: $100,000
- PCI Pty Ltd: $100,000
- Quentin Birt: $100,000
- Heather and John MacCulloch: $70,000
- Tawjoy Pty Ltd: $65,000
- Simon Maher: $60,000
- Christopher Aylward: $51,000
- Chilcotin Range Pty Ltd: $50,000
- Coogee Chemicals Pty Ltd: $50,000
- JMR Management Consultancy Services Pty Ltd: $50,000
- Michael Anthony Quinn: $50,000
- Roger Gillespie: $50,000
- Simon Fenwick: $50,000
- Currabulla Pty Ltd: $40,000
- Marcus Blackmore: $40,000
- Trisco Link Pty Ltd: $34,000
- Brazil Farming Pty Ltd: $30,000
- Michael Heine: $30,000
- Ron Lesh: $30,000
- Warwick Morris: $30,000
- Spencer Grammer: $27,000
- Peter John Griffin: $25,000
- Wythenshawe Pty Ltd: $24,000
- Kenneth Warriner: $21,200
- Robert Smith: $20,500
- Christine Fry: $20,000
- David Orford: $20,000
- Peter Vial: $20,000
- Robert Mcgavin: $20,000
- Strawcost Pty Ltd: $20,000
- The Trustee for PG Trust: $20,000
- Gavin Grace: $18,500
- Peter Grace: $18,500
- Belinda Fisher: $17,500
Stephanie is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.