Inside Spin/Battle tanks

Inside Spin/Battle Tanks is a chapter from Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the PR Industry (ISBN 9781741752175) a book by Bob Burton, the editor of the Center for Media and Democracy's SourceWatch website.

This chapter focuses on the role of the Melbourne-based corporate-funded think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in major public policy debates. In particular, it examines the IPA's:

• urging the Australian government to adopt measures designed to curb the advocacy efforts of non-government organisations especially those working on environmental, human rights and overseas aid issues;
• failure to meet standards of transparency, accountability and governance that it argues other NGO's should meet;
• its sponsorship by and advocacy efforts for the telecommunications company, Telstra and Murray Irrigation Ltd; and
• its role in creating the Australian Environment Foundation, an industry-funded 'environmental' group.

Footnote References from the Chapter

• 1 M. Nahan, interview with author, August 2003.
• 2 In a 2005 interview, IPA Executive Director, John Roskam, said: "what think tanks can do is push policies and ideas which make them safe for political parties to adopt." M. Cebon, 'Intellectual Armaments in the War of Ideas: The Roles and Influence of Independent Think Tanks on Australian Public Policy Making', Honours Thesis, University of Melbourne, October 2005, p. 21.
• 3 L. Hatfield and D. Waugh, "Right Wing’s Smart Bombs", San Francisco Examiner, 24 May 1992, cited in People For the American Way, Buying a Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and American politics, 1996, p. 6, accessed May 2007.
• 4 See "News By Date", accessed December 2006.
• 5 J. Roskam, IPA Executive Director, interview with author, 10 May 2006.
• 6 Institute of Public Affairs, "Profile: Ron Brunton", In Touch, July/August 1996, p. 3. One of Brunton's papers for the IPA was Environmentalism and Sorcery on the "revealing similarities between the beliefs of the greens and beliefs in sorcery and witchcraft." See R. Brunton, ‘Environmentalism and Sorcery’, Environmental Backgrounder, Institute of Public Affairs, 31 January 1992, p. 1.
• 7 "The Director’s Report to the 1992 Annual General Meeting", IPA Review, vol. 45, no. 4, 1992, p. 61.
• 8 Philip Morris, "Core Objectives", 1994. Bates No. 2044333554, accessed January 2007.
• 9 J. Shear, "GOP Catch Phrase for the ’90s: 'Defunding the Left'", The Sun (Baltimore), 23 April 1995.
• 10 P.A. McDaniel (University of California, San Francisco), E.A. Smith (University of California, San Francisco) and R.E. Malone (University of California, San Francisco), "Philip Morris’s Project Sunrise: Weakening tobacco control by working with it", Tobacco Control, 2006, vol. 15, pp. 215–23, accessed March 2007.
• 11 Philip Morris, "Tipping The Scales of Justice", August 1996, Bates No. 2071044284/4293, p. 12.
• 12 J. Slavitt, ‘Public Policy Plan—Draft’, Philip Morris, 30 January 1997, Bates No. 2063393720/3726, p. 5.
• 13 A. Adair, interview with author, 20 September 2006.
• 14 Tim Duncan was subsequently a policy officer with the Business Council of Australia before joining mining company Rio Tinto's PR section as Head of External Affairs in Australia. In 2003, he joined the financial PR firm, Hinton & Associates, and is a board member of the Institute of Public Affairs.
• 15 A. Adair, interview with author, 20 September 2006.
• 16 A. Adair, "A Code of Conduct for NGOs — A Necessary Reform", Institute for Economic Affairs, 1 October 1999. An earlier version identified Adair as a Senior Associate of the CIS at the time.
• 17 ibid.
• 18 "Corporate Affairs Forum", In Touch, September 2000, p. 5, accessed November 2006.
• 19 G. Johns, interview with author, April 2004.
• 20 In 2005, the Australian Taxation Office issued two draft rulings which replicate elements of Costello’s failed Charities Bill. In particular, one states that ‘a purpose contrary to public policy is not charitable’ and ‘political and lobbying purposes are not charitable. While such purposes may use educational means, this is not sufficient to show a charitable purpose’, though with the qualifier that it is permissible as long as they are incidental’ to a charitable purpose. Australian Taxation Office, 7’&PiT=99991231235958 "TR 2005/21 Income tax and fringe benefits tax: charities", undated, accessed December 2006. See also J. Staples, Public Interest Group or Special Interest Groups: An Investigation of the Extent of Attacks on Non-Government Organisations in Australia 1996- 2005’, unpublished thesis, 2005.
• 21 Institute of Public Affairs, "About the IPA...", 28 November 2004. The file is now only available in an Internet archive.
• 22 S. Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary (Community Branch), letter to M. Spence, September 2003.
• 23 Institute of Public Affairs, The Protocol: Managing Relations with NGOs: Proposed by the Institute of Public Affairs to the Commonwealth Government, 30 January 2003, p. 2.
• 24 Department of Family and Community Services, Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership—Meeting 28 April 2003, unpublished.
• 25 Department of Family and Community Services, Table 86 FaCS—New consultancies let during 2002–03 to the value of $10 000', Department of Family and Community Services 2002–2003 Annual Report, p. 284.
• 26 FACs requested Johns assistance with a question which asked whether "the IPA produces a register of donations and if this is publicly available". (It doesn't.) See G. Purcell (Director, Secretariat to the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership), email to G. Johns, 24 October 2003.
• 27 "DFAT Engagement With NGOs: Meeting with Gary Johns: Background Information", undated. (This document was released to The Wilderness Society in 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act.)
• 28 AusAid, "IPA Report: The Protocol: Managing Relations with NGOs", memo, undated. (The cover note from Ausaid's C. Ballard was dated 27 July 2004.)
• 29 G. Purcell (Director, Secretariat to the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership), email to G. Dunn (FACS), 17 June 2004.
• 30 Senator B. Mason, "Charitable Organisations", Senate Hansard, 9 August 2006, pp. 48–51.
• 31 N. Khadem, "Bid to strip green groups' tax status", The Age, 9 August 2006, accessed December 2006.
• 32 Matt Wade, "Canberra’s gagging us, say charities", Sydney Morning Herald, 30 May 2007, accessed May 2007.
• 33 AID/WATCH, "ATO decision has implications for all charities", Backgrounder, 30 May 2007, accessed May 2007.
• 34 M. Nahan, "The IPA sings its own song", The Australian, 10 April 2000.
• 35 Institute of Public Affairs, cache:cxGNhITcq8MJ:www.ipa.org.au/about.htm "About the IPA...", 28 November 2004. The file is now only available in an Internet archive.
• 36 M. Nathan, interview with author, August 2003. Nahan made the same pledge to Sydney Morning Herald journalist Brad Norington; see B. Norington, ‘Deep pockets behind deep thought’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 August, 2003.
• 37 "Thinkers of influence", The Age, 10 December, 2005.
• 38 Past and present funders have included British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Exxon, Shell, Rio Tinto, the contracting company Clough Engineering and BHP-Billiton.
• 39 J. Roskam, interview with author, May 2006.
• 40 J. Gay, interview with author, December 2006.
• 41 In September 2003, a US group called Public Interest Watch (PIW) lobbied to have the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) strip Greenpeace USA of its tax-deductible status. In September 2005, the IRS commenced a threemonth- long audit. Six months later, the IRS wrote to Greenpeace notifying it that it retained its tax-exempt status. PIW spokesmen refused to disclose their sources of funding when asked. However, in March 2006 a whistleblower leaked internal documents to both Businessweek magazine and the Wall Street Journal. They revealed that in the 2003–04 financial year, $120 000 of the group’s budget of $124 094 had come from the oil company, ExxonMobil. S. Stecklow, "Did a Group Financed by Exxon Prompt IRS to Audit Greenpeace?", Wall Street Journal, 21 March 2006, p. A1, cited at <>. See also Public Interest Watch's Annual Report to the Internal Revenue Service, accessed March 2006.
• 42 G. Johns, interview with author, 14 December 2006.
• 43 D'Cruz wrote: "The question is: why do corporations (and the World Bank for that matter) hand over such large sums to WWF? In a word protection".’ He then went on to extrapolate the point to other environmental groups. See D. D'Cruz, "NGOs: Chasing the Corporate Dollar", Review, Institute of Public Affairs, September 2003, p. 28.
• 44 J. Roskam, interview with author, May 2006.
• 45 Institute of Public Affairs, "Position Specification for the Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)", 23 February 2005.
• 46 G. Johns, 'Protocols with NGOs: The Need To Know', Backgrounder, November 2001, p. 15.
• 47 ibid., p. 8.
• 48 J. Roskam, interview with author, May 2006.
• 49 G. Johns, Government and Civil Society: Which is More Virtuous, Senate Occasional Lecture, Parliament House, 23 August 2002, p. 15.
• 50 J. Roskam, interview with author, May 2006.
• 51 T.Warren, ‘Telecommunications in Regional and Remote Australia’, IPA Backgrounder, November 2000, vol. 12, no. 2. Warren noted that just prior to writing this backgrounder he had undertaken consultancy work for Telstra. The IPA as publisher, however, did not disclose its financial ties to Telstra.
• 52 M. Nahan, "There is still time to get it right", Australian Financial Review, 23 February 2001, accessed January 2006.
• 53 J. Hoggett, "Labor Launches Telstra Into the Past", The Australian, 1 November 2001, accessed January 2006. See also J. Hoggett, ‘Regulating Telecommunications: Trade Practices Overkill’, Review, June 2002, pp. 15–17.
• 54 G. Johns, "Stop Strangling Telstra", Forum, 1 May 2002, accessed January 2006.
• 55 A. McIntyre, "Outback Isolation is a Myth", The Australian, 11 October 2002, accessed January 2006.
• 56 M. Nahan, "The New Protectionism", The Australian, 16 January 2004, accessed January 2006.
• 57 C. Berg, ""Telstra’s regulatory waltz", Australian Financial Review, Letter to the Editor, 18 October 2004, accessed January 2006; C. Berg, "Splitting Telstra is not the right move", Australian Financial Review, 22 August 2005, accessed January 2006; C. Berg, "ACCC should be good sports", Australian Financial Review, 8 February 2005, accessed January 2006.
• 58 A. Moran, C. Berg, J. Hoggett and K. Phillips, Submission to the Productivity Commission’s Review of National Competition Policy Reforms, Institute of Public Affairs, December 2004.
• 59 C. Berg, "Can we remove the ban on mobiles in planes without killing each other?", IPA Review, September 2005, pp. 22–23.
• 60 R. Kemp, "First Speech - 14/09/1990", Senate Hansard, 14 September 1990, accessed April 2007. Kemp's father had been one of the founders of the Institute of Public Affairs.
• 61 Senator R. Kemp to Senator K. O’Brien, Communications, Information, Technology and Arts: Institute of Public Affairs", Senate Hansard, 10 February 2004, p. 19750–51, accessed January 2006. The total figure is unadjusted for the effects of inflation. The figures for each financial year that records were available for were 1999–2000: $50,000; 2000–01: $55,000; 2001–02: $30,000; 2002–03: $20,000; and 2003–04: $10,000.
• 62 "Unlike some other institutions, we do not accept government funding, nor are we beholden to, or the mouthpiece for, any particular section of the community or any particular economic activity or group." This policy statement was last on the IPA's website in 2005 and is in an Internet archive here.
• 63 R. Breum, phone conversation with author, December 2004; R. Breum, email to author, 24 December 2004.
• 64 M. Nahan, letter to B. Scales, Managing Director of Corporate and Human Relations, Telstra, 8 September 2004.
• 65 ibid.
• 66 M. Nahan, email to J. Foley, Telstra, 9 September 2004.
• 67 J. Foley, Group Manager Regulatory Public Affairs Telstra, email to E. Corcoras, IPA, 12 November 2004.
• 68 J. Roskam, attachment to email to J. Foley, 24 August 2005.
• 69 ibid., p. 3.
• 70 A. Maiden, Telstra's Group Manager of Public Affairs, letter to M. Nahan, 28 September 2001.
• 71 ibid.
• 72 R. Bruem, interview with author, September 2006.
• 73 House of Representative Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, "Inquiry into future water supplies for Australia’s rural industries and communities—Interim report", Parliament of Australia, March 2004, accessed April 2007
• 74 A. Day, "Queries on $40,000 IPA gift", Australian Financial Review, 4 June 2004.
• 75 In mid-2006, the former Chairman of Murray Irrigation Ltd, Bill Hetherington, joined the board of the IPA. See [www.ipa.org.au/publications/publisting_detail.asp?pubid=547 "New Board Member"], In Touch, Institute of Public Affairs, June 2006, p. 2, accessed April 2007.
• 76 J. Roskam, interview with author, May 2006.
• 77 J. Marohasy, "Does the Murray River Still Need Saving?", ‘Counterpoint’, ABC Radio National, 22 May 2006, accessed April 2007.
• 78 G. Warne, interview with author, September 2006.
• 79 Murray Irrigation Limited, "Scientists speak on controversial Murray findings", media release, 6 January 2004. The original release is now only available in an Internet archive, accessed November 2006.
• 80 "Irrigator groups oppose Snowy Hydro sale", ‘Rural’, ABC, 19 May 2006, accessed June 2006.
• 81 M. Nahan, "Spin versus substance in public affairs", speech to Public Affairs in Minerals and Energy, 18–20 March 1996, Hyatt Kingsgate, Sydney.
• 82 J. Marohasy, ‘Environmental Fundamentalism’, speech at the Centre for Independent Studies, 12 May 2004. An edited version of the speech appeared in the CIS magazine, Policy, vol. 20, no. 3, Spring 2004.
• 83 T. Lee, interview with author, December 2004.
• 84 M. Fyfe, "Cool reception for new green group", The Age, 8 June 2005, accessed April 2007.
• 85 J. Roskum, interview with author, May 2006.
• 86 J. Shoebridge, "Burke ready to bloom in new role", ‘Landline’, ABC TV, 14 August 2005.
• 87 M. Duffy, speech to the Australian Environment Foundation conference, Brisbane, 24 September 2006.
• 88 P. Staines, "You want policy? In cash?", The Times (London), 20 December 2005, p. 19, accessed April 2007.