For a special membership fee, developers will have access to Liberal National party events such as cocktail receptions

The Queensland Liberal National party will offer property developers free cocktails and other perks as part of a paid “diamond membership” package, following the state’s ban on them making political donations.

At its annual convention, which is being held across three days this weekend, the party said it would institute the new membership scheme, which allows developers and others to pay a $990 special membership fee.

The benefits of the new diamond membership appear mainly to relate to fundraising and social events, such as free entry to “cocktail reception(s)” and other functions.

The LNP has a multi-level membership structure, with individual fees ranging from $110 to $1,300. The more expensive memberships under the existing structure entitle party faithful to attend peak policy forums such as the the state convention and state council.

The LNP president, Dave Hutchinson, told the convention the new membership had been instigated because of the donations ban, the Australian reported.



“For those wondering what this is all about, this is a class of membership that’s allowed under current state legislation that effectively prohibits property developers from participating in our party,” Hutchinson said.

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His predecessor, Gary Spence, was forced to resign in December because of the ban. Spence is the director of a civil engineering and development consultancy firm. He stood aside on advice that he could not be involved in raising funds for the party.

Spence had launched a legal challenge to the state’s donations ban, which was tossed out by the full bench of the high court in April.

The ruling left the LNP at a distinct fundraising disadvantage against Labor just a month before the federal election – although some party members believe this might have also helped the federal Coalition, whose victory was won partly on the back of effective locally run campaigns in individual seats.

The federal election has upended Queensland politics, forcing the Labor government to change its public language on the Carmichael coal project, in part to appease regional MPs worried about losing their seats at the 2020 election.

The LNP convention always showcases the hardline nature of the party’s conservative northern membership – such as debates where the ABC is labelled as “enemies of the party”, but in the lead-up to this one, the Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, sought to outflank Labor on the left.

The LNP needs to win back a handful of city seats at the 2020 Queensland election – a tougher task in a state campaign, particularly when social issues are at the fore.

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LNP moderates have long been concerned that the party’s hardline stance on abortion rights, for example, has the potential to alienate more progressive city voters.

Labor has used a process of steady and methodical social reforms, in some cases winding back ultra-conservative legacy policies, to highlight the LNP’s move to the fringes.

Frecklington had announced in the Courier-Mail a week before the convention that the LNP would back reform of the state’s rape consent laws, to remove the “mistake of fact” defence that has consistently prevented proper investigations and hindered prosecutions.

Labor had been weighing the reform for months, and a few days later had announced that it would be reviewed by the state’s Law Reform Commission.

The LNP has raised donations worth $470,000 since the federal election in May. Public data shows that several large donations of about $30,000 each were made before the end of the financial year, including by a company run by the coal power advocate Trevor St Baker.