Greenfields Foundation
The Greenfields Foundation is a front group used by the Liberal Party in Australia to funnel funding without the knowledge of the Australian Electoral Commission or the Australian public.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello on the Greenfields Foundation
MITCHELL: So what’s the Greenfields Foundation?
TREASURER: I don’t actually do any of those matters myself, so you’d have to . . .
MITCHELL: You must know.
TREASURER: Well, actually . . .
MITCHELL: You’ve got a $4.6 million loan to the Liberal Party.
TREASURER: Well, it’s a foundation, obviously, that gives money to the Liberal Party but other than that I can’t add I’m afraid.
MITCHELL: Who’s behind it, do you know?
TREASURER: I don’t run that Neil.
MITCHELL: I know you don’t run it, do you know who’s behind it?
TREASURER: I don’t have any information on it.
MITCHELL: Do you know who’s behind it?
TREASURER: No.
MITCHELL: Ron Walker?
TREASURER: Wouldn’t know.
MITCHELL: Really? You got $4.6 million loan to the Federal Liberal Party, you don’t know who’s behind it?
TREASURER: Well, I’m a Treasurer in the Liberal Government, I run the economy, I don’t manage fundraising activities.
MITCHELL: Do you think in the interests of transparency that whoever that is should be declared?
TREASURER: Well it has been declared.
MITCHELL: The Greenfields Foundation, who is it?
TREASURER: It’s been declared as the Greenfield Foundation.
MITCHELL: Who is it?
TREASURER: It’s been done in accordance with the law, and there it is.
MITCHELL: And you don’t think in the interests of transparency we should know who it is?
TREASURER: Well you do, it’s the Greenfields Foundation. It’s like saying, it’s like saying, you know, who is Santos? I mean, there would be people in Santos . . .
MITCHELL: We know who runs and owns Santos.
TREASURER: Well, I don’t . . .
MITCHELL: . . . who owns and runs the Greenfields Foundation?
TREASURER: . . . well I don’t, I don’t know who runs and owns it (Santos). I presume . . .
MITCHELL: . . . and you don’t know who runs and owns the Greenfields Foundation?
TREASURER: . . . I presume super funds own it (Santos), but I couldn’t tell you who.
MITCHELL: And you don’t know who owns or runs the Greenfields Foundation.
TREASURER: I don’t know, no I don’t, no I don’t." [1]
Other Sourcewatch Resources
External Resources
- Australian Electoral Commission, Funding and Disclosure Report - Election 1998
- Treasurer Hon Peter Costello MP, 3AW with Neil Mitchell, Transcript, Tuesday, 2 February 1999.
- Secrectly Funding the Howard Regime - The Greenfields Foundation, Indymedia.
- Sandi Keane & Barry Everingham, 'The Liberal Party receives millions from fossil fuel lobby', Independent Australia, 11 April 2011.
- Sandi Keane, The fossil fuel industry and who really runs Australia, Independent Australia, 6 May 2014
