Australian APEC Study Centre

The Australian APEC Study Centre is a pro-free trade think tank run by Alan Oxley and based at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. It also advocates against the Kyoto Protocol and other measures to avert Climate change.

US-Australia Free Trade Agreement

The Centre was a key advocate for the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement. In 2001, the Centre was commissioned by the Australian Government to provide an assessment of the prospective FTA. [1] The report was cowritten by Alan Oxley and Alan Moran of the Institute of Public Affairs. Over 2001-4, the Centre also organised three conferences to promote the agreement.

Climate Change Skepticism

The APEC Study Centre is one of only three Australian organisations which are climate change skeptics (the others are the Lavoisier Group and the Institute of Public Affairs).

The Centre has a long history of Climate skepticism and outright denial. According to Prof. Sharon Beder of the University of NSW, "In August 1997 the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, a conservative corporate funded US think tank organised a conference in Canberra in conjunction with the Australian APEC Study Centre. The conference, entitled Countdown to Kyoto, was organised, according to The Australian, to 'bolster support' for the Government's increasingly isolated position on global warming in preparation for the Kyoto conference. Speakers included US politicians opposed to the treaty, the Chairman of BHP and the Director of the think tank, the Tasman Institute."

"Malcolm Wallop, who heads the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, chaired the conference with Hugh Morgan, the head of Western Mining. Wallop said in a letter to US conservative groups: 'This conference in Australia is the first shot across the bow of those who expect to champion the Kyoto Treaty'. He also stated that the conference would 'offer world leaders the tools to break with the Kyoto Treaty'. The conference was opened by Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fisher who argued that tough emission reduction targets could put 90,000 jobs at risk in Australia and cost more than $150 million." [2]

In April 2005, the Centre brought together most of Australia's public climate change skeptics - including Alan Oxley, Bob Carter, William Kininmonth, Garth Paltridge and Alan Moran - for a conference at Parliament House entitled "Managing Climate Change: Practicalities and Realities in a post-Kyoto future". The conference website was designed by International Trade Strategies, a consultancy also run by Alan Oxley. The conference was sponsored by Xstrata and ExxonMobil.

The conference included presentations by:

• Harlan Watson, Senior Climate Change Negotiator and Special Representative, US Department of State;
• Qingqing Zhao, First Assistant Secretary (Science and Technology), Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Australia;
• Alan Oxley, Chairman of the Australian APEC Study Centre, Monash University;
• Dr Graeme Pearman, Director, GP Consultants Pty Ltd and former Chief of the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research;
• Professor Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Queensland;
• William Kininmonth, Author of "Climate Change: A Natural Hazard" and formerly of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology;
• Dr John Zillman, President, Australia Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
• Emeritus Professor Garth Paltridge, retired Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania and former Chief Research Scientist of the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research;
• Roger Beale, Senior Associate, The Allen Consulting Group;
• Dr Brian Fisher, Director, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics;
• Meg McDonald, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Alcoa World Alumina Australia;
• Professor Aynsley Kellow, University of Tasmania;
• Dr Alan Moran, Director, Deregulation Unit, Institute of Public Affairs; and
• Jon Stanford, The Allen Consulting Group.

([3])

Personnel

• Chairman: Alan Oxley
• Director: John McKay
• Communications and Executive Manager: Jaime Jobson
• Project Manager: Tim Wilson
• Accounts/Admin Officer: Judi O'Gorman

Contact Details

Australian APEC Study Centre
Level 12, 30 Collins Street
Melbourne, Vic 3000
Australia
Tel: 61 3 9903 8757
Fax: 61 3 9903 8813
apec@apec.org.au
Web: http://www.apec.org.au

Other Sourcewatch Resources

• Think tanks
• Think Tanks/Australia
• Climate change sceptics
• International Trade Strategies
• David J. Firestein

External Resources

• Sharon Beder, The Intellectual Sorcery of Think Tanks, Arena Magazine 41, June/July 1999, pp. 30-32.