LeadershipNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
Amazon's party payments in Australia cluster around its datacentre announcements
Amazon made 34 payments worth $538,000 to Australian Labor and Liberal branches over six years, some within days of datacentre deals, the Guardian found. The payments are legal, but backlash over fast-tracked datacentres has put their timing under scrutiny.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
26 Jun 2024: Amazon discloses $33,000 to Labor, eight days before the $2bn intelligence datacentre deal is announced. 14 Jun 2025: Albanese at AWS in Seattle as Garman outlines a $20bn plan. 28 Jun 2025: Amazon reports $46,500 to federal Labor, its largest party payment on record.
| Date | Event | Claim |
|---|---|---|
| June 26, 2024 | Amazon discloses $33,000 to Labor, eight days before $2bn intelligence deal | 10 |
| June 14, 2025 | Albanese at AWS Seattle as Garman outlines $20bn datacentre plan | 1 |
| June 28, 2025 | Amazon reports $46,500 to federal Labor, its largest party payment on record | 3 |
What happened
- On 28 June 2025, days after Anthony Albanese visited AWS headquarters in Seattle, Amazon disclosed $46,500 to Labor's federal branch, its largest Australian party payment on record.
- Eight days before the 2024 announcement of a $2bn deal for three top-secret intelligence datacentres, Amazon disclosed a $33,000 payment to Labor, and another $33,000 followed within six weeks.
- Both were membership fees for the Labor Business Forum, which facilitates access to ministers and MPs, and Amazon has paid the forum more than $200,000 since mid-2021.
- Between mid-2021 and mid-2025, while pursuing datacentres on Sydney's outskirts, Amazon paid $38,100 to NSW Labor and $37,400 to the NSW Liberals.
- Macquarie Technology Group disclosed a $3,000 donation to the NSW Liberals three days before Scott Morrison's 25 March 2022 speech opening a datacentre in Sydney's north-west.
Why it matters
- exposure Every payment is dated in public electoral filings, so a developer that pays a party near a deal gives critics a timeline to work from, whatever its intent.
- cost Ministers defending fast-tracked datacentres against community backlash carry part of the cost, because they now also have to answer for payments disclosed around the deals they announce.
- decision Labor and the Liberals have to decide whether forum fees from companies seeking approvals are worth the questions now attached to that money.
- precedent The same filing-by-filing review has already reached Macquarie Technology Group, so ASX-listed local operators can expect their payment dates to be checked against their openings.
The Guardian built its account from electoral filings, and it does not allege that the money bought decisions. In its own words, the payments did not influence the government's decision making [5]. The paper wrote that the closeness of the 2024 payments to the $2bn intelligence datacentre deal was coincidental [9][16]. Its concern is access: companies paying parties for additional access to decision makers [16].
A large share of Amazon's spending takes a form the law does not count as a donation [12][19]. Under Australian electoral law, membership fees to party fundraising vehicles are listed as "other receipts", though the money still goes to the party [12]. Amazon's fees to the Labor Business Forum come to more than a third of its $538,000 total [19].
An Amazon spokesperson said the company's forum payments had nothing to do with its public investments, datacentre projects among them [14]. The sums are small enough to make that credible. The 34 payments average about $15,800 each [18]. Together they come to roughly 0.003% of the $20bn Melbourne and Sydney plan that chief executive Matt Garman set out in Seattle, with Albanese standing beside him [20][1]. Garman called Australia "incredibly important and a great market" [2]. We think the denial and the sums settle the influence question, as far as this record goes.
The NSW totals for Labor and the Liberals are $700 apart [21]. Amazon's payments are not the only route to government. Former policy advisers and at least one former premier have been paid to lobby governments on behalf of datacentre companies, the Guardian reported [7]. Clancy Moore, chief executive of Transparency International Australia, said datacentres were the new extractive industries but were using the old techniques of cash-for-access payments and full-scale lobbying to influence the country's political system [8].
The Guardian's reporting does not link any delayed or refused datacentre approval to the payments or the lobbying. Until an objector or a planning review makes that link, we would treat the approval risk as a matter of reputation. For an operator, a forum membership is a small decision this quarter. If a cost follows, it comes later, as a contested approval with the payment dates attached.
What to watch
- Any planning objection or approval review for a fast-tracked datacentre that cites an operator's party payments or lobbying.
- Responses from the federal government and the ALP national secretariat, which the Guardian contacted for comment.
- Any move to reclassify fundraising-forum membership fees as donations under Australian electoral law.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives60
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
On 14 June 2025, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was at the Seattle headquarters of Amazon Web Services alongside chief executive Matt Garman, who outlined a $20bn plan to build datacentres in Melbourne and Sydney.
- [2]
Garman said Australia was "incredibly important and a great market" for the company.
- [3]
Within days of Albanese returning home from Seattle, Amazon reported its largest payment to an Australian political party on record: $46,500 to the Labor party's federal branch on 28 June 2025.
- [4]
Amazon made 34 payments totalling $538,000 to Labor and Liberal branches over a six-year period.
- [5]
The Guardian says the money did not influence the government's decision making, but that it continued a trend of Amazon disclosing payments shortly before or after multibillion-dollar announcements.
- [6]
The payments are legal, but as governments face community backlash for fast-tracking datacentres, the financial contributions are facing renewed scrutiny.
- [7]
Well-connected political operatives, including former policy advisers and at least one former premier, have been paid to lobby governments on behalf of datacentre companies.
- [8]
"Datacentres are the new extractive industries but [are] using the old techniques of cash for access payments and full scale lobbying to influence our political system,"
ReportedSupportedSource: Clancy Moore, chief executive, Transparency International AustraliaView cited source - [9]
In 2024 the Albanese government announced a $2bn deal with Amazon Web Services to build three top-secret datacentres to store sensitive information gathered by intelligence agencies.
- [10]
Eight days before the 2024 $2bn intelligence datacentre deal was announced, on 26 June, Amazon disclosed a $33,000 payment to Labor, according to Australian Electoral Commission filings; less than six weeks later another $33,000 payment was disclosed.
- [11]
The 2024 payments were membership fees for Labor's fundraising vehicle, the Labor Business Forum, which facilitates access to ministers and MPs; Amazon has paid more than $200,000 in membership fees to the forum since mid-2021.
- [12]
Under Australian electoral law, membership or subscription fees to political fundraising vehicles are not classed as donations and are listed as "other receipts", though the money goes to the party.
- [13]
Between mid-2021 and mid-2025, Amazon paid $38,100 to the New South Wales Labor party and $37,400 to the Liberals, while pursuing several new datacentres on Sydney's outskirts.
- [14]
An Amazon spokesperson said its payments to fundraising forums were not related to public investments, including datacentre projects.
- [15]
ASX-listed Macquarie Technology Group disclosed a $3,000 donation to the NSW Liberal party three days before then prime minister Scott Morrison's 25 March 2022 speech opening a new datacentre in Sydney's north-west, after two payments to the same branch worth $15,000 in January 2022.
- [16]
The Guardian describes the proximity of the 2024 payments to major deals as coincidental, but says it highlights ongoing concerns about companies paying political parties for additional access to decision makers.
- [17]
The federal government and the ALP national secretariat were contacted for comment.
- [18]
Amazon's 34 payments average about $15,800 each.
- [19]
Amazon's Labor Business Forum fees are more than a third of its $538,000 in disclosed payments.
- [20]
Amazon's $538,000 in payments is roughly 0.003% of its $20bn Australian datacentre plan.
- [21]
Amazon's NSW Labor and NSW Liberal totals differ by $700.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
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Entities
- Amazon Web ServicesFollow
- AmazonFollow
- Anthony AlbaneseFollow
- Matt GarmanFollow
- Australian Labor PartyFollow
- Liberal Party of AustraliaFollow
- Labor Business ForumFollow
- Australian Electoral CommissionFollow
- Macquarie Technology GroupFollow
- Scott MorrisonFollow
- Transparency International AustraliaFollow
- Clancy MooreFollow