Political activist group GetUp! has received a donation of nearly $500,000 from a charity with foreign funding links and will use the money in the lead up to next year’s election.

The Australian reports the $495,000 came from the Sunrise Project – which is believed to have received international funding from US-based foundations.

The left-wing activist group has received the donation just in time, a fortnight before new laws banning political donations from foreign interests come into place.

Sunrise, which campaigns for 100 per cent renewable energy, insists the funds have come from “Australian sources”.

Money from the donation will be used by GetUp! in campaigns leading up to next year’s federal election.

Gerard Benedet, the director of the conservative political support group Advance Australia, tells John Stanley this isn’t the first time GetUp! has taken money of this size and scale.

“There’s a hell of a lot of money going into left-leaning activist groups that are trying to change the Australian way of life,” he says.

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Advance Australia has more than 20,000 supporters since launching in November.

Mr Benedet says they sit “firmly on the centre-right” and he believes most mainstream Aussies share their views.

“They go about their job, they look after their family, they pay their taxes, and they’re not happy with the changes that have been happening in Australia and they think it’s been happening by stealth.”