Many people might wonder what a pro-environmental group and a Victorian Game Hunting Association could have in common. What would the two seemingly opposing organisations share?  Investigation showed they actually share the same contact telephone number.

Contact details listed under the Directory of Victorian Hunting Organisations on the Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment website revealed the Victorian Deer Hunting Group’s telephone number was the same telephone number as the Australian Environmental Foundation, chaired by Don Burke.

University of Wollongong Professor Sharon Beder whose published work includes Ecological Double Agents and the book Global Spin said a sure way to reveal if an organisation is a front group is to see which other companies share the same contact details.

No wonder the AEF is thought to be a major front group for anti-environmental organisations.

Professor Beder said in Ecological Double Agents a common strategy of corporate front groups was to portray themselves as environmentalists in order to appear to have environmental support.

AEF director,Jennifer Marohasy is a biologist and senior fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), which has received funding from fossil fuel and energy companies. Ms Marohasy is a known opponent of the idea of human-induced climate change, while the IPA is considered to be a right-wing, corporate-funded think tank.

Professor Beder said the IPA is a front group which tries to distort and even downplay key environmental problems.

“The IPA works against affective environmental action,” she said.

In 2003 non-government organisations faced sustained attacks by the IPA. It appeared particularly upset with the apparent influence of organisations such as Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature. The IPA has also actively campaigned against the Kyoto protocol and a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Professor Beder said front groups choose names that sound as if they are grass-roots community and environmental groups.

“The names of corporate front groups are carefully chosen to mask the real interests behind them but they can usually be identified by their funding sources, membership and who controls them.”
Some of the key sponsors mentioned by the AEF include: Auscott Limited, Daintree Saltwater Barramundi, Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, Monsanto and Murray Irrigation Limited.

AEF executive director Max Rheese said there were 43 different organisations associated with the foundation, ranging from the IPA to hunting groups.  Mr Rheese said membership was open and attracted members who shared the same views as the foundation.

The AEF makes it no secret that they are strongly against “environmental fundamentalism,” and the foundation views include the denial of environmental problems, such as climate change, the support of genetically modified food and movements for less regulation in the timber industry.  Mr Rheese said the timber industry was heavily regulated.

“It is so regulated I couldn’t stand to be a forester,” Mr Rheese said.

The AEF have also rejected the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dismissing it as “not valid,” Mr Rheese said.

Professor Beder said anyone denying environmental climate change was likely to be a front group. “There is scientific news everyday about the affect of environmental change,” she said.

“Front groups are working against environmental protection.”

Further Information: ABC Radio National Interview on Counterpoint with Jennifer Marohasy