Australia’s biggest companies spent millions on campaigning for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, new figures reveal.
All four major banks, big miners such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Woodside and retail giants Wesfarmers and Woolworths poured in more than $1million each into the push to get the Voice enshrined into the Constitution by last year’s referendum.
Topping the list of corporate donors was ANZ that pumped in over $2.2million into the Yes23 campaign but the Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, Rio Tinto, BHP and Woodside also put in at least $2million each.
Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo is pictured with SBS presenter Karla Grant during the run up to the Voice referendum
The Commonwealth Bank tipped over $2million dollars into the Yes campaign, according to new figures from the Australian Electoral Commission
Westpac and NAB gave $1.4million and $1.3million respectively while Woolworths chipped in $1.2million, according to figures released by the Australian Electoral Commission.
All donations of $1million or above went to the Yes campaign in the lead up to the October 14 referendum, with the largest sum coming from the non-profit Paul Ramsay Foundation, which gave over $7million.
The next largest donor to the Yes was the Yajilarra Trust which gave over $4.4million.
Wesfarmers, which came just behind ANZ and the CBA in the amount it donated, owns Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks among other businesses.
