MRC Briefing Paper: Fewer members, fuller coffers

mrc analysis reveals $215 million in Government Grants to unions

Published: July 2026

Australia’s unions are running short of members, but not of money. 

Since 2022, state and federal Labor governments have engaged in astonishing levels of pork-barrelling to unions and their related entities. These unions in turn spent millions to campaign for the election of Labor governments.

MRC analysis has identified that from 2022, Labor governments at the federal and state level have awarded at least $215 million in taxpayer-funded grants to peak union councils, individual unions, union training arms and union-controlled entities.

Much of it was allocated through programs with no open tender, and for purposes with little connection to the living standards of members. In effect, the grants underwrite the day-to-day running costs of the unions.