Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19095
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Woodhead M
Health groups revealed as major political donors
6minutes.com 2011 Feb 9
http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/health-groups-revealed-as-major-political-donors
Full text:
Pharma companies, Big Tobacco and GP Super Clinic operators are some of the major donors to Australia’s political parties, figures from the Australian Electoral Commission show.
The figures just released for 2009-2010 show that the Australian Labor Party received major contributions from pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer ($28,600) Sanofi Aventis ($20,000) and vaccine manufacturer CSL ($4400) as well as donations from the pharma industry lobby group Medicines Australia. Labor also received generous financial support from health groups such as the Pharmacy Guild ($17,556), the Health Services Union ($29,556) and from health insurance companies such as Medibank Private and BUPA.
The AEC figures also show that Labor received donations from private companies that provide services to the Department of Health and Ageing, such as $12,500 from McKesson Asia Pacific, which operates the healthdirect nurse phone triage service and other health hotlines on behalf of the government. The rural medical centre operator Ochre Health, which was selected to develop the Grafton GP Super Clinic gave $15,000 to the ALP.
In contrast, the Liberals and Nationals are revealed as being recipients of substantial donations from the tobacco industry, with the Liberals accepting almost $20,000 from British American Tobacco and the Nationals accepting almost $17,000 from Philip Morris. However, these donations were dwarfed by the generosity of Primary Care’s boss Edmund Bateman, who proved to be one of the Liberal party’s most substantial private supporters with a donation of $200,000.
The Greens appeared to have no major health donors.
