JUST WHO GOVERNS AUSTRALIA.

Australians think it’s the elected Government. But there are many unelected individuals behind the scenes who Lobby, Donate or set up Dinner dates with the Members of our Government.

Meanwhile, the growing number of mining lobbyists are increasing their influence over the Government is profound and dangerous.

Yet it doesn’t take much investigating to conclude the Government of Australia does not have its own mind, it’s the Minerals Council of Australia, The Australian Industry Group, The Property Council of Australia and the. Association of Mining and Exploration Companies just to name a few who all seem to have a direct line to the Prime Ministers office in Canberra.

If you donate to the Liberal Party you can rest assured you will get all the law you want when it comes to mining development. With both the Great Australian Bight and the Great Barrier Reef in the frame, earmarked for mining exploration fears are the Mining Lobby will get their way and these Australian icons will be exploited for profit.

But the Mining Lobby and its influence over Scott Morrison goes deeper, and if one wants evidence just look at the people who make up the staff of his inner office. Scott Morrison’s Chief of Staff is. John Kunkel, he used to be mining giant Rio Tinto’s Chief Advisor for Government Relations and before that he was Deputy CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia for more than six years. His Principal Private Secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, is the former CEO of Crosby Textor (now C|T), a multinational lobbying firm with close ties to the mining industry. C|T’s corporate clients include coal giants Glencore and Mitsubishi Development, along with the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and the Queensland Resources Council. They ran a 2017 campaign to undermine confidence in renewable energy on behalf of Glencore which included fabricating news stories and spying on environmental groups. Andrew Hirst, former Crosby Textor Director, is now Liberal Party Campaign Director.

Then there is the direct influence exerted by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart who is a Coalition donor, her personal staff includes former Liberal MP, Sophie Mirabella, and Adam Giles, former Liberal Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Gina Rinehart maintains a very close relationship with former Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, whose campaigns she’s also helped fund.”

As co-owner of major coal mining licenses in the Galilee Basin, Rinehart stands to receive significant benefits if the area is opened up, via approval for the Adani-Carmichael mega coal-mine, currently being pushed through by the Coalition Government.”

Former Environment Minister Melissa Price gave approval for Adani’s groundwater plan, despite advice from the CSIRO. She used to be the Vice-President at a mining company owned by Mitsubishi Development, co-owners of a portfolio of Queensland coal mines.

Advocate for coal expansion and Federal Resources Minister Mathew Canavan ( known as the Minister for Mining) has a brother, John Canavan, who was once an executive at coal giant Peabody Energy and now part-owns Queensland’s Rolleston coal mine. No conflict of interest there.

Matt Canavan has ministerial responsibility for the $5 billion Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility Fund. Five of the seven board members have strong mining industry ties.

Then we have the Murdoch Media.

Their ultimate goal is to become Australia’s national broadcaster at the expense of the ABC which is to be sold off. To ensure Rupert Murdoch has his people close to Government, several of them also work in Scott Morrison’s inner office. Scott. Morrison’s speechwriter, Matthew Fynes-Clinton, who was the Deputy Chief of Staff and Editor of The Courier Mail, his Press Secretary, Andrew Carswell, was the Chief of Staff at The Daily Telegraph, and his advisor, Thomas Adolph, formerly of The Australian, might play some role in Government policy? Of course, they do.

Buts lets not forget the IPA, they are the Liberal Party Policy development think tank who are ultra-conservatives, they wield enormous power of the Liberal Party.

Surrounded by these people it’s easy to see the influence they wield over Scott Morrison who after all is only a Marketing man and no more. These key people who work in Scott Morrison’s office are radically pro-coal and anti-climate action. Murdoch empire, an organization so steeped in denial as to even deny the presence of climate deniers, be in any way related to Morrison’s crackdown on environmental protests? Of course, they do.

But we have left the best to last. There is another living paradox who inhabits Scott Morrison’s office and that is. Brian Houston, he is the religious pastor ( and a multi Millionaire ) who is more concerned with politics than matters of faith, whereas Scott Morrison seems more concerned with moral matters. Brian Houston can’t believe his luck, he has direct access and influence over the government of Australia through Scott Morrison.

All because Scott Morrison believes Church and State should be one and the same. It’s said of Scott Morrison and his intellect that he has never read a new book and never had an original thought if he does its always been someone else’s ideas he has used and claimed as his own. Others say Morrison is so easily led.

Unfortunately, space stops us from writing about the banks and their efforts to lobby the Government – just like the Insurance Industry.

(Compiled by The Bulletin with material from Situation Theatre 22/11/2019)