The comparison today is brutal. One Nation reportedly raised millions for an anti-Labor campaign, while Fraser Coast Hospice in Queensland only just survived closure after emergency donations for palliative care.
People are free to support whatever politics they choose. But they should know when they are being harvested by political machines that already orbit big money, media attention, and professional campaign infrastructure.
That donated money would almost certainly do more good in places like palliative care, where people are trying to help the sick, the dying, and their families with dignity rather than slogans.
Politics increasingly turns anger into revenue. Care still has to beg. That tells us more than enough.