A Queensland Liberal National party senator has used a corporate tax avoidance inquiry to ask executives from multinational mining companies whether they shared his deep concerns about the tax revenue being lost due to the charitable status of environmental groups.
Referring to organisations like the Rockefeller Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust, senator Matthew Canavan asked the executives from the Anglo-Swiss multinational Glencore and the Indian conglomerate Adani whether they also found it “unusual and queer” that environmental and activist groups “blatantly engaging in political activities” received tax concessions because of their charitable status.
“To me it seems strange we are in an inquiry about tax yet we have a system in place that offers tax concessions for organisations that are funding activities that are blatantly engaging in political activities … We are losing tax revenue … Do you find that as unusual and queer as I do … when we are trying to get as much tax revenue as we can to fund our deficits?” Canavan inquired.
The Australian-based executives from Glencore and Adani did not offer an opinion on the matter, but Canavan’s views are in line with those of the NSW Minerals Council, which has called on the government to review the charity status of politically engaged groups which allows them to receive tax deductible donations.
A motion put to last year’s Liberal party federal council meeting by Tony Abbott’s newest party whip, Tasmanian MP Andrew Nikolic, also called for environmental groups to be stripped of charitable rights, including the ability to receive tax-deductible donations.
Canavan referred to funding from the Rockefeller family fund that helped pay for research that resulted in a strategy document entitled Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom.
After public questions were raised about its ownership structure, Adani, which is seeking to build the $16bn Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, wrote to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission requesting an open review of its structures “now or in the future to confirm our compliance with the relevant Australian laws”.
Rio Tinto’s chief financial officer, Chris Lynch, recently suggested the company could use tax transparency as a defence against Glencore’s attempts at a takeover. The treasurer, Joe Hockey, has also told a private business function there was “no way” he would allow Glencore to take over Rio Tinto, according to a recent report in the Australian Financial Review.
Glencore’s tax affairs are difficult to monitor because it has hundreds of holding companies, but its corporate affairs manager, Cassandra McCarthy, said this was due to a series of takeovers and was being streamlined.
Glencore approached Rio Tinto about a merger last July, but Rio rebuffed the move. Hockey must approve any foreign takeovers, based on recommendations from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
