The bloody business of political donations

Our faithful correspondent Bob Burton has been digging into the dark world of political donations and come up with some very interesting findings which he’s published as a series over at Tasmanian Times.

A bird’s-eye view follows, but it’s certainly worth clicking through to the full story for each. An interesting insight into health sector lobbying.

1. Over a number of years, Burton found that Pathology Australia, the peak lobby group for the $2.5-billion-per-year private pathology sector, failed to disclose more than $100,000 in donations to both the Tasmanian Liberal and Federal Labor parties.
2. Sonic Healthcare and its Tasmanian subsidiary diagnostic services and Healthscope were also major donors to the state’s Liberals in the three years to 2014, with speculation it was linked to a push for outsourcing of hospital pathology to the private sector.
3. Amid these donations, Burton reports that Health Minister Sussan Ley is considering Pathology Australia requests for regulation of rents on private pathology clinics.