Photo: From the stacking the deck report.

A NEW report has highlighted the depth of Government support for activist groups, with a sample of 100 organisations receiving a collective $2.2b over the past five years – some of them environmental groups who regularly lobby against the beef industry.

Institute of Public Affairs, which is a political think tank, earlier this week published its report Stacking the Deck: How Government Lobbies Itself and Funds the Distortion of Democracy. It analysed the funding received by 100 groups, all left leaning, to argue that the spending habits of Governments was shutting down important debate.

Report co-author Jordan Abou-Zeid said the organisation had not found examples of funding going to groups on the other side of politics.

“The analysis highlights that this spending is not ‘waste’ – it is deliberate and intended to achieve a particular objective of stacking the deck of public debate,” said Mr Abou-Zeid.

“Mainstream Australians who feel that the political system and political class does not represent them can hardly be blamed given they are routinely locked out of equal participation in the debates that concern them.”

Most of these organisations also have charity status, which allows companies to get a tax break when they donate to them and they don’t have to pay tax themselves.

As some industry leaders have recently pointed out, the same can not be said for the beef industry – whose $5 levy is not allowed to be used for lobbying.

About the report

IPA looked at state and federal funding that has been given to 100 different groups, between FY2021 and FY2025. It divided the report into five separate groups:

• Diversity and multiculturalism advocacy
• Nanny state and public health advocacy
• Lawfare and welfare state advocacy
• Indigenous co-governance advocacy, including the Voice, treaty, and changes to national symbols
• Green advocacy

The top three groups to receive funding in the green advocacy section were The Nature Conservancy and WWF Australia – both have had a significant hand in legislation impacting the beef industry.

WWF has long campaigned for tighter controls on land clearing, a topic that has been prominent of late with a new layer of Federal Government legislation currently being put on the industry and key markets putting in rules to stop ‘deforestation’.

The Nature Conservancy has pushed hard for the government to adopt its 30 by 30 policy, a goal the Federal Government has set to set aside 30pc of Australia’s land mass by 2030. The group even partnered with the Government for a recent purchase of land for National Parks.

Fifth on the list was the Environmental Defenders Office, who have campaigned for changes to land clearing legislation – including through the use of court proceedings. Queensland Conservation Council and Environment Centre NT were also part of the list.

Democracy needs free and fair debate, IPA

Mr Abou-Zeid said the funding was distorting debate on important topics.

“Democracy means nothing if not the ability to have a free and fair debate, but bureaucrats are blatantly distorting this debate by giving their weight and billions of taxpayer dollars to favour one side,” said Mr Abou-Zeid.

“When governments provide extraordinary financial support lobbying itself on diversity, nanny state, co-governance, and green policies, it generates a false perception that debate on these issues is settled.

“Australians who hold mainstream views are made to feel they are more fringe or marginal than they really are.”

• For the full report click here