Political donations are on the radar again, with the release of the numbers behind the 2016 federal election.

As usual, unions donated millions to Labor branches across the country, while a range of big business groups did the same for the LNP.

But some of the strongest criticism of the money behind Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s election is being levelled at Mr Turnbull himself.

The PM has admitted to donating $1.75 million to the Liberal Party (from his estimated net worth of over $180 million), silencing mounting speculation even though the rules would have allowed it to stay undisclosed for another 12 months.

The Opposition criticised Mr Turnbull, saying he “got out his wallet” because he could not win the election on merit.

Mr Turnbull fired back.

 “I am not beholden to the CFMEU... I am not beholden to left-wing unions,” the PM said

South Australian senator Nick Xenophon said there was not much separating the major parties’ funding practices.

“People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and this is one hell of a big glasshouse,” Senator Xenophon told reporters.

“The real issue has to be the lack of transparency, the opaqueness of our current donation disclosure laws where we don't really know who's pulling the strings when it comes to making those big donations.”

Despite willingly criticising their opponents, neither side of politics has made any serious moves to change the political funding regime.

Experts say our donation laws are far too lax.

Because the parties only have to declare donations of $13,001 and above to a single branch, someone wanting to stay silent could donate amounts of $13,000 to as many branches as they want.

These undeclared payments account for about 49 per cent of the total funding pool, meaning that approximately $77 million worth of election influence remains hidden.

Another problem is associated entities - groups that fund political parties like unions, think tanks or dedicated fundraising groups.

Associated entities can accept donations and pass them on to the parties.

This provides another way for donors to stay off the record and under the $13,000 cap.

Associated entities were the source of $218 million worth of funding in the 2016 financial year - an amount higher than that received directly by all political parties combined.

The donation figures were released by the AEC, and the ABC has created searchable database of political donations and a matching database of associated entity funding.