The Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) is a not-for-profit advocacy organisation. It has disputed the values of some mainstream environmental assertions, and also on occasion the evidence used to support those assertions. The AEF is skeptical on climate change, pro-logging, pro-big business, anti-wind energy, and against the Murray-Darling Basin plan. [1] [2] [3]
The formation of the AEF was first mooted at the Eureka Forum organised in December 2004 by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and a number of resource user groups. [4] It was formally launched on World Environment Day (5 June 2005) in the northern New South Wales town of Tenterfield.
The founding chairman was former Labor federal environment minister, Barry Cohen AM. A subsequent chairman was gardener, author and television presenter Don Burke OAM. [5] Reporting on the AEF's launch, the Melbourne broadsheet newspaper, The Age wrote: "Dr Marohasy said she acted as the group's leader as an individual and not part of the IPA." [6] At the time of registration, the registered office was the same is the registered office of the IPA. [7]
The group stated in its press release that "This new group will be vastly different to the established environment organisations that have had the ear of governments for some time. The AEF’s focus will be on making decisions based on science and what is good for both the environment and for people". [8] [9]
The organisation has been labelled a "fake environmental group" by community advocacy organisation GetUp!. [10] In May 2014 the AEF came under criticism for lobbying for the de-listing of Tasmania's World Heritage old-growth forest. [11]
Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using facts, their relationships, the media, and messaging to educate government officials and the public. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes, including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research. Lobbying is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on a specific issue or specific piece of legislation. Research has started to address how advocacy groups in the United States and Canada are using social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a member of World Rugby. Rugby Australia has eight member unions, representing each state and the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. It also manages national representative rugby union teams, including the Wallabies and the Wallaroos.
Anthony Stephen Burke is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has served as member of parliament (MP) for Watson since 2004. He held cabinet positions in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.
Donald William Burke is an Australian television presenter, television producer, author and horticulturist. He is best known as the longtime host of Burke's Backyard, a lifestyle program produced by his wife's company CTC Productions, which ran for 17 years from 1987 to late 2004 on the Nine Network. He was also responsible for the creation of garden makeover program Backyard Blitz, starring former colleague Jamie Durie.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability.
The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tank, which is based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It advocates free-market economic policies, such as privatisation, deregulation of state-owned enterprises, trade liberalisation, deregulation of workplaces, abolition of the minimum wage, criticism of socialism, and repeal of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. It also rejects large parts of climate science.
Campaign for Better Transport is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that promotes sustainable transport, particularly bus and rail services. It was launched as Transport 2000 in February 1973 by the National Union of Railwaymen with the Railway Industry Association, the Liberal Party Environmental Panel and others. In January 2007 it absorbed the Road Block anti-road building campaign led by Rebecca Lush and campaigned for less expenditure on road building. The organisation changed its name from Transport 2000 to Campaign for Better Transport in September 2007.
The purpose of the Monash University Faculty of Arts is 'the pursuit, advancement and application of knowledge in the humanities, social and environmental sciences and creative and performing arts'. It offers degrees from undergraduate to PhD level. Entrance into the undergraduate Bachelor of Arts program is competitive, as it is the most popular Arts degree among university applicants in Victoria.
Becker Entertainment is an Australian production company.
The Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (CANE) was established in Perth, Western Australia on 14 February 1976 by Friends of the Earth (FOE). It included Peter Brotherton, John Carlin, Mike Thomas and Barrie Machin. CANE was a non-profit grass roots organisation whose aim was to stop the establishment of a nuclear power plant in Western Australia (WA) and to halt uranium mining. The organisation operated out of the Environment Centre in Wellington Street, Perth. The Whitlam Federal government in 1974 had dedicated about A$7,000 per state to set up Regional Environment Centres. Perth's Environment Centre housed other groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Conservation Council of Western Australia, Friends of the Earth, and the Campaign to Save Native Forests. A CANE group was also established in Adelaide, South Australia.
The Coalition of Activist Lesbians Australia (CoAL) is an advocacy group established in 1994 to combat discrimination against lesbians, and the first lesbian non-government organisation to gain accreditation from the United Nations.
The Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) is one of the three legally recognised professional bodies for accountants in Australia. The IPA represents more than 25,000 voting members working in industry, commerce, government, academia and professional practice.
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is a conservative right-wing Christian advocacy organisation based in Canberra.
Jennifer Marohasy is an Australian biologist, columnist and blogger. She was a senior fellow at the free-market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs between 2004 and 2009 and director of the Australian Environment Foundation until 2008. She holds a PhD in biology from the University of Queensland. She is sceptical of anthropogenic global warming and co-authored a peer-reviewed paper in GeoResJ suggesting that most of the recent warming is attributable to natural variations, a view disputed by climate scientists.
A peak organisation or peak body is an Australian term for an advocacy group or trade association, an association of industries or groups with allied interests. They are generally established for the purposes of developing standards and processes, or to act on behalf of all members when lobbying government or promoting the interests of the members.
The Transition Decade is a non-partisan shared campaign which is coordinated by an alliance of Australian community, social, and environmental groups, non-profits and NGOs. The initiative forms a unified plan to campaign, lobby and work to restore safe climate conditions and a sustainable future.
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national significance. Formation of the ACBC was approved by the Holy See on 21 June 1966. With around 5.4 million Catholics in Australia, the ACBC is an influential national body.
James Alexander StrongAO was an Australian businessman and philanthropist.
55 Tufton Street is a four-storey Georgian-era townhouse on historic Tufton Street, in Westminster, London, owned by businessman Richard Smith. Since the 2010s the building has hosted a network of libertarian lobby groups and think tanks related to pro-Brexit, climate science denial and other fossil-fuel lobby groups. Some of the organisations it houses have close connections with those at 57 Tufton Street next door, including the Centre for Policy Studies and CapX.