Telcos donate heavily in NBN lead up

Macquarie Telecom donated $75,200 to the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the 2008-09 financial year, according to figures released by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

It was the seventh highest donation to the federal ALP in the reporting period. The company also managed to find change for the federal Liberal Party, donating $46,750. On a state level, it pledged $11,000 to the Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP).

Optus, however, gave more to the federal Liberal Party, donating $28,250, and only $27,725 to the federal ALP.

Optus also gave a total of $8,550 to state Liberal parties and $1,889.30 to the Labor Party's Victorian branch. It also coughed up $6,600 to the NSW National Party.

Another company that heavily invested was Leighton Holdings, which owns fibre optic company Nextgen Networks, a company that won a $250 million contract for the National Broadband Network last year. It donated a total of $130,810 to the Liberal Party and $119,415 to the ALP.