Authors
Daniel Moses, Cassandra de Lacy-Vawdon, Barbara Mintzes, M Mofizul Islam, Deborah Gleeson
Published in
Australian and New Zealand journal of public health. Pages 100596. Oct 14, 2026. Epub Oct 14, 2026.
Abstract
This study aimed to analyse the extent and nature of the Australian research-based pharmaceutical industry's political financial contributions to Australian federal political parties from 2015 to 2024.
Political contributions data reported by both contributors and political parties were collected from the Australian Electoral Commission Transparency Register for Medicines Australia and its core members between financial years 2015 and 2024. Contributions to the Australian Labor Party, Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia were exported into Excel and analysed to provide descriptive statistics.
Nineteen of 38 included companies contributed to major Australian political parties over the 10-year period, with many making regular contributions. Total contributions of AUD 7,694,136 (adjusted for inflation) were declared by companies. Discrepancies between the reports made by companies and political parties mean this is likely an underestimate.
The industry appears to maintain regular contributions to major Australian political parties, enabling access to politicians. Total contributions are similar in scale to those reported by unhealthy commodity industries, but much smaller than pharmaceutical industry payments to health professionals and patient groups.
Results suggest further study into the pharmaceutical industry's commercial practices is needed and reinforce other literature suggesting the Transparency Register needs improving.
PMID:
42869759
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Oct 2026.
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