Latest news with #CoalAustralia
The Guardian
01-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Liberal-aligned thinktank running anti-Greens ads received $600,000 from coal industry in Queensland election
A Liberal-aligned thinktank running last-minute anti-Greens advertisements targeting young voters received more than $600,000 from the coal industry during last year's Queensland election, disclosures show. On Monday evening, the Australian Institute for Progress released a 'Can you afford the Greens?' video advertisement pushing claims, based on its own commissioned research, that the Greens' housing policies would lead to increased rents. Emails to supporters from the AIP executive director, former Queensland Liberal vice-president Graham Young, seeking donations to push anti-Greens advertisements show the campaign is specifically aimed at helping elect Liberal National party candidates Trevor Evans and Maggie Forrest in the seats of Brisbane and Ryan. 'We believe that with a properly-funded and targeted campaign we can reduce [the Greens'] total numbers by 50%,' Young wrote to supporters. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter 'While other campaigns we have heard of are targeting older Greens voters … our campaign bores in on financial self-interest – one of the strongest drivers of behaviour – and younger, even first-time, Greens voters,' he said. Queensland electoral disclosures show the vast majority of the Australian Institute for Progress's declared donations during the past year have come from the coal industry group Coal Australia. The lobby group gave $613,500 to the AIP in September and October last year, before the Queensland election campaign. The AIP's return shows it spent more than $680,000 on the state campaign, where it ran online anti-Labor advertising in close seats, including Capalaba and Redlands. Asked who was funding the AIP's anti-Greens advertisements in the week before the federal election, Young said the thinktank did not disclose its donors 'except as required by law' but that it had not received any money from Coal Australia specifically for its federal campaigning, or since the state election. The AIP is one of several third-party groups running well-funded campaigns designed to oust Greens from their three inner-Brisbane electorates and against independent 'teal' MPs in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. One of those groups, Australians for Prosperity, has also declared $725,000 from Coal Australia. Another, Advance Australia, has been actively involved in anti-renewables campaigns. Young said the AIP decision to focus on housing was because it was 'a serious issue' for the group. 'If you look at our website you will find that housing, which is the focus of our current campaign, has been a concern of ours from our inception,' he said. 'When the Greens advocated taxation policies that would hurt renters, as well as create housing shortages, we decided to run a campaign against them. In our view the Greens advocate a range of policies that are not in the interest of Australia, or of the people who vote for them.' Max Chandler-Mather, the Greens MP for the Brisbane seat of Griffith and the party's housing spokesman, said 'coal and gas billionaires' were campaigning against the party 'because the Greens are the party prepared to stand up to them, make them pay their fair share of tax, and stop opening new coal and gas projects that are cooking the planet'. 'Coal billionaires desperately want Peter Dutton to be prime minister and they know that the Greens in Brisbane are the ones standing in the way,' he said. 'Having now failed to stop the Greens through scaremongering to conservative voters, now they've resorted to lying to young voters and renters. That won't work either.' In his emails to supporters, Young said contributions to the anti-Greens campaign below the federal threshold did not need to be disclosed. 'The rules that applied to the last state election do not apply to this Commonwealth election,' Young told supporters. 'It is only until you have donated $16,900 in total that you need to disclose your donation and there are no prohibited donors.'
The Guardian
12-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Coal lobby group urged members to attend fundraiser with Nationals leader David Littleproud
A coal lobby group encouraged its members to attend a political fundraiser with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, in the lead-up to a federal election that would 'decide the future' of the industry. The fundraising dinner with Littleproud was scheduled for Wednesday night, according to promotional material circulated by Coal Australia. The group confirmed it was attending a fundraiser, which it said was organised by the National party. Littleproud's office referred Guardian Australia's questions to National party headquarters, which did not respond before deadline. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The event material, seen by Guardian Australia, said the upcoming election would 'determine the future of Australia's coal industry'. 'Federal polling shows a tight contest, with Green and teal crossbenchers aiming to prop up a Labor minority government – one that has consistently undermined the nation's productive sectors for political gain. 'These Green and teal candidates are well-funded, backed by industry groups and wealthy investors in large-scale wind and solar projects, determined to shape Australia's economy in their image. 'We cannot afford another three years of uncertainty – cancelled projects, rising taxes, and relentless attacks on the industries that keep Australia strong.' The flyer said the event would provide an opportunity to discuss election strategy, policy priorities and insights from polling. Nationals MPs are among the federal parliament's most vocal coal advocates, none more so than Queensland senator Matt Canavan, who earlier this week wrote on social media that Australia should build a new coal-fired power station. The regionally focused party has received donations from other fossil fuel interests over the years, including the Minerals Council of Australia. Political fundraisers are occurring with increasing frequency as the major parties build war chests for the election, which will be held in May. Coal Australia was founded in August 2024 to specifically advocate for coal interests, and has 10 members: Bowen Coking Coal, Whitehaven, Peabody, New Hope Group, Yancoal, Kestrel Coal, QMetco Limited, Stanmore, Terracom and Vitrinite. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The chief executive of Coal Australia, Stuart Bocking, said the group attended fundraisers for all the major parties and would continue to do so. 'We support those who stand up for coal communities and the prosperity they deliver for all Australians,' Bocking said. There is no record of Coal Australia donating to the federal National party, although the latest disclosures only cover the 2023-24 financial year, which predated the group's formation. The coal industry fundraiser comes a week after Cyclone Alfred threatened to wreak havoc on Littleproud's home state of Queensland, pushing the issue of climate breakdown and its impact on natural disasters on to the federal election agenda. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said while Australia had always had natural disasters it was clear global heating was 'having an impact on our weather patterns'. The debate also prompted renewed scrutiny of Labor's policies, including its approval of coal mining projects in the past three years. Asked on Sunday if the government would continue to approve such projects, Labor frontbencher Murray Watt said each application would be assessed on its merits before insisting Labor's focus was on its 'massive' investment in renewables.
