Concern over $25,000 Perth Glory political donation

A political storm has blown up in Western Australia, with revelations Perth Glory owner Tony Sage made a $25,000 donation to the Nationals just months before the Western Australian Government paid $400,000 compensation to the A-League club.

During the taxpayer-funded refurbishment of East Perth's nib Stadium, Perth Glory owner Sage had sought compensation from the Western Australian Government, claiming that hosting A-League fixtures at the reduced capacity venue was causing losses of $60,000 a game.

Western Australian Sports Minister Terry Waldron, a Nationals MP, claims to have authorised the payment to Sage based on advice from the Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation.

However, it has now emerged that Sage made a $25,000 donation to the Nationals just months earlier.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett claims not to have known of the donation, and speaking on Perth radio station 6PR this week advised that Minister Waldron is a "very honourable person".

Premier Barnett said he and the Western Australia Department of Premier and Cabinet were involved in the compensation decision, although it was never considered by Cabinet.

He explained "the State Government agreed that they have suffered financial losses we didn't want to see the Perth Glory Football Club get into financial difficulty and ultimately we agreed to pay them $400,000 by way of compensation for the construction work.

"Any connection to a donation made to the National Party, well I don't have any knowledge of that but I absolutely assure (that) this Minister is a very honourable person. There would be no influence on the decision that either he or I made.

"No one is going to be influenced by a donation like that. Some people might say it shouldn't have come out of the capital budget because it was recurrent spending, but I think most fair-minded people would see that Perth Glory would have suffered significant financial losses. The State Government used some of its savings to make sure they got through that season OK, and that was the only reason it was to support the football club."

Sage told PerthNow that any claim the donation and the compensation was linked was "baseless and ridiculous".

Sage added "if you actually go back to the dates that I donated to the National Party, I also donated more to the Labor Party and more to the Liberal Partty than I did to the National party.

"I'm apolitical. Everyone knows that I vote either way, depending on policies."