94yo Brian Hadley Anderson gave No campaign $1 million to ‘balance’ corporate Australia’s ‘attack on nation’

A 94-year-old retired car dealing magnate who pumped more than $1 million into the No campaign against the Voice to Parliament insists he is “not political” and simply wanted to “balance” the big spending of corporate Australia that was out to “denigrate” our “great country”. Brian Hadley Anderson — through his company Hadley Holdings Pty Ltd — donated a total of $1.025m to the No campaign run by conservative group Advance Australia in late 2022, according to Australian Electoral Commission data published on Thursday. “I’m a retired businessman and self-made — so I don’t owe anybody anything. I just did it entirely on a matter on principle,” Mr Anderson exclusively told The West Australian. The Dalkeith resident said it was the first time he had donated to any political campaign. He was inspired by the views of Indigenous anti-Voice campaigners Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, whom he said he had “great admiration for”. “I’m not a political activist and I’m not a member of any political party. I’m not a regular donor for this kind of thing but I was particularly interested to support Senator Price and Warren Mundine because I agree with their views, and that is that the move to the Voice to me was divisive, undemocratic, and discriminatory,” he said. A third generation Australian, Mr Anderson — who humbly declined to pose for a photo — said he thought all Aussies should be proud of their country. “It’s a big issue these days and I’m very motivated along those lines. I think the denigration of Australia is disgraceful,” he said. “I think everyone should be proud of the country. I deplore the attacks on Australia’s history. Nothing is perfect but we haven’t done too bad. “I was very pleased to be able to help when it was most needed, which was at the beginning of the campaign.” The donation was the single biggest contribution to the war chest Advance Australia used to defeat the Voice referendum in October last year. “It was on these principles alone and the fact that there was so much money poured in from the corporate and government for the Yes case that it stirred me up,” he said. “I thought I should balance it, if I can, because that’s all I can do, I’m too old to go out there and march in the streets.” The majority of voters in all States and the Northern Territory voted No with a resounding 60 per cent of voters across the country against the Voice. In WA almost 64 per cent of voters rejected the Voice — the third highest No vote in the nation behind Queensland and South Australia. “I was very reassured for the future of the country. I thought the public and electorate made the right decision and I was very pleased to be able to contribute. I was very pleased with the result, therefore I was getting satisfaction out of the fact that I did contribute to it,” he said. Mr Anderson held a 20 per cent stake in the St James-based Mercedes powerhouse Diesel Motors in the mid-1990s and retired with a property portfolio featuring several car yards. Company records list Mr Anderson and former Diesel Motors accountant Lena Hilton as the directors of Hadley Nominees. Land title records show Hadley Holdings and Yardia Pty Ltd — another company controlled by Mr Anderson — were the landlords of Bayswater Mazda until they sold the dealership’s Guildford Road lots in May 2018 for $10.7 m. Mr Anderson’s private company Cinnabar last year sold the Paceway Mitsubishi yard in Osborne Park for $14.5m and Yardia sold a riverside residence adjacent to his Dalkeith home for $8.5m. Yardia had been a part-owner of the Melville Mitsubishi yard on Leach Highway, Myaree, until the property’s sale for an undisclosed amount in 2004. Advance Australia racked up more than $4.5m in electoral spending in 2022-23, up from $3.6m in the previous 12-month period that included the 2022 election. Investor and entrepreneur Steve Baxter and vitamins giant Marcus Blackmore also poured thousands of dollars into the anti-Voice group. Data on donations and campaign spending during the Voice to Parliament referendum will be revealed in a separate AEC release on April 1. The Yes campaign was believed to have raised more than $30m in donations, with philanthropists and big corporates tipping in millions of dollars each.