Fossil fuel money distorting democracy d Fossil fuels in the political system Front cover. Parliament House, Canberra. Photo supplied by. Shutterstock. Key findings • Donations from the fossil fuel industry are • There is a severe lack of transparency over on the rise. Fossil fuel donations to the major money flowing to politicians from donations. parties peaked in the 2018-19 period. Overall, the We found that from 2015-2019 the major industry donated a total of $1,894,024, excluding parties had close to $283 million in income donations to the United Australia Party. from undisclosed sources. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year alone, the major parties received • The extractive industries are by far the over $100,000,000 in income from undisclosed largest donors from the coal, oil and gas sources. This 'dark money' in the system is sector, accounting for over half of the total worsened by the extremely loose regulations donations to the major parties since 2015-16. on associated entities. In 2018-2019, associated entities disclosed just over one third of the income they received, while around 67% of money came from undisclosed sources. This money is often then donated to political parties, further obscuring the true source of the donation. Fossil fuel money + ministerial access = government decisions? Fossil fuels in the political system Contents Key findings .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Undue influence of fossil fuel lobby .................................................................................................................5 2019 donations data trends ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Lack of transparency .............................................................................................................................................................7 Dark money ...................................................................................................................................................................................7 Disclosure discrepencies ..............................................................................................................................................7 Donations overview ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Donations by fossil fuel sectors ......................................................................................................................... 9 Donations to parties ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Coal and gas patrons ......................................................................................................................................................12 Associated entities ..................................................................................................................................................................13 3 Fossil fuels in the political system Executive summary While more and more Australians call renewable sources of energy. for urgent action on climate change, our government continues to stall on Our democracy should work for everyone, with implementing effective and meaningful decisions made in the best interest of people and climate policy. Meanwhile, donations planet. Yet Australia’s poorly regulated political from industries with a vested interest in donations regime means those with the biggest maintaining the status quo and prolonging wallets get an unfair amount of access and say the extraction and burning of dirty fuels are in important decisions affecting the future of our on the rise. country and planet. Significant reform is needed to limit the influence of big money in our political Each year, coal, oil, and gas companies donate system. The policy solutions are already there. All hundreds of thousands of dollars to political that’s missing is action. parties and candidates. These industries have a vested financial interest in prolonging the extraction and consumption of dirty fuels for as long as it is profitable. Large donations to politicians, huge advertising campaigns and millions of dollars spent on lobbyists are part of a sophisticated system to gain influence and access to those in government making critical decisions about the future of fossil fuels in Australia. Recommendations This paper takes a deep dive into the world of • Ban large political donations to political political donations and uncovers the millions parties and candidates of dollars being spent by the coal, oil, and gas • Increase transparency over donations, industries to buy access and influence with including real time reporting of political governmental decision makers.Utilising data from donations the Australian Electoral Commission we examine • Limit expenditure at election times, so patterns and trends in political donations to the those with the fattest wallets can’t drown major parties over the last four reporting periods out the voices of everyone else (2015-2019), excluding donations by Clive Palmer through his companies. The patterns and trends • Set stronger lobbying regulation and in donations from the coal, oil, and gas industries greater transparency so we know who’s indicate a strong sense of undue influence, meeting with our elected representatives coinciding with a period of policy inaction on • Create an independent watchdog to emissions reduction and steps to transition to investigate and stamp out corruption. 4 Fossil fuels in the political system Undue influence of the fossil fuel lobby The coal, oil, and gas sectors constitute a Extractors strategically important aspect of Australia’s Companies that both directly economy. These sectors rely on mining operate resource extraction, and approvals, licenses for new exploration and those whose business model environmental approvals being controlled is wholly dependent on such activities. by the government. Thus, the success of these industries is “built on Gentailers & energy favourable government decisions”.1 According Gentailers refer to companies to the Grattan Institute, the largest donors often that both generate and retail account for those in industries with the most to energy, such as Origin Energy. gain from policy.2 It then becomes clearer why the fossil fuel lobby maintains a stronghold on political Big emitters donations. Big emitters refer to companies To better understand the overall influence of the responsible for significant coal, oil and gas industries on our government, we emissions due to their categorise them into five key sectors (see right). dependence on burning fossil fuels. Collectively, we refer to these groups as the fossil fuels lobby. This report does not look at donations from lobbying firms, many of which work directly Industry bodies for extractive industries, energy companies and the Industry bodies are those such biggest emitters. as the Minerals Council of Australia which represent the Controversial mining decisions, public debate interests of coal, oil and gas. about the future of energy, the increasing affordability of renewables and a rise in public environmental concern all threaten the dominance Individuals of fossil fuels in Australia. As these threats mount, Those donating in a private the fossil fuel lobby is increasingly mobilising its capacity on behalf of their financial resources to gain influence over decisions personal mining or other interests. that affect its profits. This report examines the patterns and trends of coal, oil and gas companies, to understand the way in which their donations affect policy in their favour, whilst undermining our democratic processes and delaying critical action on climate change. 5 Fossil fuels in the political system 2019 donations data trends • In 2018-19, the fossil fuel industry • This is the first year (in our period of donated $85,719,747 to Australian analysis) that APPEA has disclosed political parties. donations, in addition to ‘other receipts’. • The 2018-19 disclosures showed the Prior to this year, APPEA disclosed a total of $20,350 in ‘other receipts’, biggest fossil fuel donor was Clive compared Palmer’s Mineralogy, which donated to a total of $161,659 in disclosed $83.7 million to Palmer’s own UAP. donations for 2018-19 alone. • Excluding donations to Clive Palmer’s • The Coalition received the highest United Australia Party (UAP), the total amount of donations from fossil fuel amount of declared fossil fuel industry industries, receiving a total of $1,147,376. donations to Australian political parties • The Labor Party received a total of comes to $1.9 milion. $725,448 in fossil fuel donations, an • The biggest donor to the major parties increase of $232,745 from the previous disclosure period. was Woodside, which donated $135,400 to Labor and $147,940 to the Liberal • Between the major parties, over $102 National Coalition. million of income have undisclosed • Excluding Clive Palmer linked companies, sources in the 2018-19 fiscal year. the top three fossil