Brian Hadley Anderson: 94yo retired car salesman major donor to group that helped defeat Voice to Parliament

A cashed-up retired Perth car salesman and dealership owner pumped more than $1 million into the right-wing outfit that led the No campaign in the Voice to Parliament referendum — making him second largest political donor in the past financial year. Brian Hadley Anderson – through his company Hadley Holdings Pty Ltd - donated a total of $1.025 million to Advance Australia in late 2022, according to Australian Electoral Commission data published on Thursday. The donation was the single largest contribution to the war chest Advance Australia used to campaign to defeat the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum in October last year. The 94-year-old Dalkeith man held a 20 per cent shareholder in the St James-based Mercedes powerhouse Diesel Motors late last century and retired with a property portfolio featuring busy 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 million. 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, which deployed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine as their lead campaigners, racked up more than $4.5 million in electoral spending in 2022-23, up from $3.6 million 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 $30 million in donations, with philanthropists and big corporates such as BHP and Wesfarmers tipping in millions of dollars each. Mining billionaire Clive Palmer again topped the list of political donors in 2022-23, with Mineralogy tipping a massive $7.08 million into his United Australia Party. Billionaire and long-time political donor Anthony Pratt donated more than $1 million — all of which went to Labor. Climate 200, the fundraising vehicle that helped propel teal independents including Kate Chaney into parliament, received another $3.5 million in 2022-23. A Coalition analysis of the data found Labor received almost $5.7 million in donations from trade unions. Only donations above $15,200 had to be disclosed last financial year, meaning the data released on Thursday doesn’t paint a complete picture of who is giving money to political parties and candidates. The Albanese Government is planning to reduce the disclosure thresholds as part of sweeping changes to electoral laws. The parliamentary committee examining electoral laws last year recommended lowering the bar to $1000 and introducing “real-time” reporting of donations to candidates and political parties.