Anti-Voice group spreading “whale death” lies

ANTHONY KLAN

The group behind the “No” campaign against the Indigenous Voice to parliament is at the heart of an anti-renewable energy disinformation campaign flooding the nation.

Secretive lobby group Advance is “openly propagating the false claim that offshore wind farms are killing whales”, one of the nation’s top disinformation experts has told a Senate inquiry.

Dr Jeremy Walker, a senior lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, has told the Senate inquiry into offshore wind that Advance is a key player in a string of connected fronts being used to spread anti-renewables disinformation.

In a highly detailed submission, Walker said sophisticated anti-wind farm disinformation strategies imported from the US were targeting local communities near proposed offshore wind projects.

Sham “community” anti-wind groups — “spin-offs” from similar groups on the US East Coast — were heavily targeting local communities, particularly via social media, he said.

Like in the US, fake “grassroots” movements were using “slick” but “anonymous” websites to push fossil fuels agendas, while instead claiming to be representing “environmental” and “community” concerns.

“(They) are now widely circulating in the Australian anti-wind Facebook groups, cloaking pro-fossil industry narratives in the language of ‘environmental’ and ‘community’ concern via slick, anonymous websites,” Walker told the committee.

“(It’s) a method identical to the tactics used by the US branch of anti-offshore wind network”.

“(It’s) a method identical to the tactics used by the US branch of anti-offshore wind network” — Dr Jeremy Walker

He said the fake “grassroots” movements — also known as “astroturfing” — were “notably silent” on the “catastrophic global impacts” of fossil fuels.

“Couched in the language and imagery of environmental concern, websites such as No Offshore Wind Turbines, Responsible Futures (Illawarra), Australians Against Offshore Wind and associated Facebook groups, are notably silent on the catastrophic global impacts of fossil fuel on ocean ecosystems”.

“(They) are notably silent on the catastrophic global impacts of fossil fuel on ocean ecosystems” — Dr Jeremy Walker

Of target were communities where offshore wind projects have been flagged by government, including in the Illawarra and Hunter regions of NSW, south and north of Sydney respectively.

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Anti-Indigenous Voice group Advance spreading disinformation about offshore wind “killing whales”. Source: Dr Jeremy Walker/Advance

Advance, through a shadowy network of at least six interconnected entities, formed the “No” campaign against the Voice to parliament.

It claimed to be a “grassroots movement” of “ordinary Australians”. In fact, it was bankrolled by a handful of mega-millionaires.

As previously revealed, its 21 disclosed donors in the year to June 2022 boil down to just ten entities.

Each is vastly wealthy – and eight of the ten have estimated fortunes of $100 million or more.

As previously revealed, the biggest “donor” to the Advance “No” campaign in the six months before the referendum was prominent climate denier Bryant Macfie, who directed $900,000 across nine payments.

In his submission, Walker provides an Advance social media advertisement, which falsely claims offshore wind is “killing whales”.

“Offshore wind farms are killing whales, crabs and birds,” it says.

Such claims have been thoroughly debunked by experts, including Benjamin Laws, of NOAA Fisheries, the US Government’s marine management authority.

“I want to be unambiguous: There is no information supporting that any of the equipment used in support of offshore wind development could directly lead to the death of a whale,” said Laws, deputy chief for permits and conservation at the NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources.

“There are no known connections between any offshore wind activities and any whale strandings”.

Claims of offshore wind “killing whales” were “absolutely incorrect”, Dr Olaf Meynecke, a research fellow at Griffith University’s Coastal and Marine Research Centre, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

The “No Offshore Wind Farms Illawarra” Facebook page. Source: Facebook

Advance, previously known as “Advance Australia”, is highly secretive and has repeatedly refused to comment when contacted by The Klaxon.

The Voice would have given Indigenous Australians a more centralised and prominent say in public affairs.

Internationally, one of the biggest impediments to fossil fuels expansion – and so profits – has been Indigenous land rights.

Walker said “co-ordinated disinformation” against offshore wind was a “transnational project”.

“Funded by big oil and coal, the co-ordinated disinformation and astroturfing against offshore wind development is a transnational project,” he told the Senate committee.

Researchers at Brown University have mapped out “anti-wind” disinformation networks funded by fossil fuels. Source: Brown University, Climate and Development Lab

Walker cites US research by Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab, which has undertaken forensic mapping the “anti-offshore wind network” in the eastern US.

“(This research) provides an unparalleled window into how fossil fuels interests are working with climate denial think tanks and community groups to obstruct offshore wind projects,” it states.

“Fossil fuels interests are working with climate denial think tanks and community groups to obstruct offshore wind projects” — Brown University Climate Lab

It said “community groups” had made “national headlines” for their opposition to projects in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

“They appear to be new organisations that operate organically and independently, but they often share legal support, personnel, talking points, and financial resources with major organizations that have been blocking climate policy for the last several decades,” the research found.

“Knowingly or not, they are executing a strategy laid out for them by climate obstructionists in 2012.”

The research reveals that “think tanks in the anti-offshore wind movement” were heavily funded by fossil fuels interests.

It found that between 2017 and 2021, fossil fuels interests had given US$16.28million ($26.29m) “to members of a grassroots-appearing coalition at the centre of the movement”.

The super-elite who bankrolled the anti-Voice campaign. Source: The Klaxon

In September 2023 Walker published a peer-reviewed journal article titled “Silencing the Voice”, detailing the role of fossil fuels in defeating the referendum.

Walker said Advance was working in co-ordination with other entities, including US-style dark money lobby groups the “Institute of Public Affairs” (IPA) and the “Centre for Independent Studies” (CIS).

Despite aggressively working to influence public policy — and public opinion — both entities steadfastly refuse to say who they are funded by.

“That the…affiliates work together on behalf of hidden fossil fuel investors can be reliably inferred from corporate board cross overs and constant campaigns against climate science (and) climate policies,” said Walker.

That included orchestrating campaigns against political action “that stand to reduce the profitability and power of the fuel industry, such as Indigenous rights, carbon taxation, windfall taxes, resource rent taxes (and) the clean energy rollout”.

One of the biggest funders of the IPA is coal and mining multi-billionaire Gina Rinehart. That information is known only because it emerged in a court between the mining tycoon and her children.

Walker said as well as the IPA and CIS, the Australian network of disinformation groups included “Liberty Works”; the “Australian Institute of Progress”; the “Australian Taxpayers Alliance”; the “Australian Libertarian Society”, and the “Mannkal Institute”.

“(All) have campaigned in varying ways at different times against climate science, climate policy and renewable energy,” he said.

“(All) have campaigned…against climate science, climate policy and renewable energy” — Dr Jeremy Walker

Rinehart is an “honorary life member” of the IPA.

Also an “honorary life member” of the IPA is Macfie.

Advance arm “Not Zero”. Source: Not Zero/Advance

Macfie, a Perth-based medical doctor, made headlines in 2008 when, channelling $350,000 to the University of Queensland for “climate research”, he attacked “climate activism”.

“The crucifix has been replaced by the wind turbine,” Macfie declared at the time.

“The crucifix has been replaced by the wind turbine” – Bryant Macfie

Investigations by The Klaxon showed eight payments totalling $800,000 were made via “The B Macfie Family Foundation” and that Macfie himself donated a further $100,000 — taking the total to $900,000.

In 2022-23 coal billionaire Trevor St Baker was one of Advance’s biggest donors, paying $50,000 via his coal and gas power stations company St Baker Enterprises, Australian Electoral Commission filings show.

As previously revealed, Advance runs an anti-renewables site called “Not Zero”, which is riddled with climate disinformation.

It provides a “fact sheet”, which has been written by Advance and the IPA.

“They call it ‘Net Zero’…but there is a cost…and you’ll be the now who’ll pay,” says the site.

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Thank you,

Anthony Klan

Editor, The Klaxon