Around 30 of Western Australia's leading business figures have been paying $25,000 per year for access to Premier Colin Barnett and his ministers.

Proceeds from the group, dubbed the Leaders' Forum, go into state Liberal Party coffers.

Perth construction boss Gerry Hanssen says the idea surfaced six years ago when the Liberal Party was short of funds.

But he denies the group is paying to influence government policy.

"We are a democratic organisation and there's no better opportunity in the Liberal Party where you've got 20 CEOs sitting around a table and telling an individual minister what the state should be doing," he said.

"It's not a lobby group at all, it is a mentoring group for the Liberal Party."

Mr Hanssen says the forum is an opportunity for business to make its views known.

"When you've got the money, you've got a privilege, and I think it's a good purpose," he said.

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says the Premier needs to explain.

"The Premier needs to explain exactly what role this group is playing in the formulation of government policy and whether or not you make a payment and you receive a change to a policy," he said.

"These revelations are very disturbing."

No undue influence

The Premier has denied government policy is being influenced by the forum.

Mr Barnett says the group is made up of wealthy individuals who want to support the running of the party.

He has told the ABC that while members do speak frankly about business conditions, they do not expect a direct benefit.

"A mining company or a mining executive may well say we find the approvals process too expensive, too slow, too cumbersome, too uncertain in a general sense," he said.

"I've never had someone come to me and say 'Colin, I'm a donor to the party, I need my project approved', that has never happened.

"They don't get anything directly to their own benefit."

Mr Barnett says the discussions are not about specific businesses.

"If they thought, for example, environmental laws were too complex or there were delays in approvals they would raise that, but only in a general sense, not about their own particular company," he said.

The Premier also went on the attack in Parliament over fundraisers organised by WA Labor.

"For those who have got nothing to do this Friday, you are invited to quote 'an exclusive luncheon with the state Opposition Leader, Mark McGowan,'" he said.

Mr Barnett says the lunch costs $1,500.

The former Liberal leader Paul Omodei says industry has been donating money to political parties for years, and it is not sinister.

"You've actually got to be able to listen to industry and let them have their views made known to you, then you as the government decide what you're going to do," he said.

"It doesn't mean that because they have access to you that you're obliged to take up every point they make, and I would say that probably doesn't occur."