It's said money can't buy you happiness and it may not be able to buy you a seat in parliament either.
Some of the largest fundraisers by candidates not from major parties failed to a win a seat at the last election, according to data from the Australian Electoral Commission.
Victorian Independent Alex Dyson and New South Wales independent Carolyn "Caz" Heise both attracted more than $2 million in donations.
Mr Dyson unsuccessfully tried to win the seat of Wannon, held by Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan, while Ms Heise challenged Nationals MP Pat Conaghan for his seat of Cowper.
Climate 200, the fundraising vehicle backed by businessman Simon Holmes a Court, was the largest donor at the 2025 election, making 483 payments to 34 independent candidates.
In total, the organisation spent nearly $11 million in the lead up to the May poll.
The electoral commission requires candidates to disclose any donations above $16,900, along with their campaign spending.
The data is published after each election to give Australians a better insight into who is funding politicians and how much they spend.
The electoral returns data from the AEC does not include figures from major parties, which will be released in February.
Kooyong independent MP Monique Ryan received the most donations of any sitting politician within the data set, amassing $1,905,102 from more than 3000 donors.
Of the top 50 biggest-spending candidates, 45 were independents.
They included Ms Ryan and other teal MPs like Zoe Daniel, Allegra Spender, Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney and Zali Steggall.
Other independents including western Sydney MP Dai Le and regional NSW representative Andrew Gee were also high on the list.
Others in the top 50 included One Nation candidates Warwick Stacey, Tyron Whitten and Richard Graham, and Centre Alliance MP Rebekah Sharkie.
