Australia needs politically active environmental groups

Laurance, Susan;Laurance, Bill

Abstract

[Extract] Should environmental groups that engage in public debate lose their tax-free status? That's the focus of a hotly disputed inquiry currently being considered by the Australian government — specifically, by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment. Many green groups rely on tax-deductible donations from private citizens and small donors to sustain their work. In Australia, some 600 groups on the environmental register currently qualify. This is comparable to schemes in Europe and the United States, and was initiated to allow citizens and corporations to fund organisations that engage in issues of public interest. Those who initiated the inquiry, such as the committee's chair, Liberal MP Matthew Hawke, evidently have no problem with groups that do "on-the-ground" activities, such as planting trees and saving baby flying foxes. But they apparently see red when pondering groups such as Greenpeace, The Wilderness Society and Friends of the Earth, who openly decry some government policies. Particularly rankling for some conservatives have been campaigns to stop coal developments in Australia.

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The Conversation

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12 June 2015

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The Conversation Media Group

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