GetUp! reportedly made more than 50,000 calls to voters in eight seats held by Queensland’s Labor government, as well as two Federal Liberal seats, lobbying to end government support for Adani’s proposed $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin. This has prompted Andrew Bragg, acting director of the federal Liberal Party, to claim groups such as GetUp “threaten Australian democracy”. From The Australian:
Eight Labor state seats, including those held by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and ministers Grace Grace, Mark Furner, Coralee O’Rourke and Yvette D’Arth, are in the crosshairs of GetUp!…
The GetUp! dialler tool raises the NAIF $900m concessional loan for the rail-line connecting the Adani project with the coast at Abbot Point, warning that without this “handout”, it would be “very unlikely that the Adani coalmine will proceed”…
A GetUp! spokeswoman said 54,549 calls had been made. “People have been volunteering to make calls into target electorates both from their own homes and taking part in ‘calling parties’ in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney,’’ she said.
Acting federal Liberal director Andrew Bragg said “GetUp! and environmental activists threaten Australian democracy, which is no longer a level playing field … Their ruthless and underhanded coaching of people by encouraging lying to other voters via technology sets a new standard in Australian political campaigning.’’
Righto, so when a group like GetUp! launches a legitimate campaign against an ill-conceived project like Adani, they “threaten Australian democracy”. But when well-resourced industry organisations like the Property Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Bankers Association, or the Minerals Council runs campaigns pushing certain policy agendas, this is all well and good!
It seems the Coalition only supports “free speech” when the subject matter is agreeable to its policy position.
