This article is more than 1 year old

Oz billionaire says CIA backs Greenpeace

Anti-coal campaign apparently a cunning plot to help US miners

Australian Mining Magnate Clive Palmer has declared the CIA is behind a Greenpeace campaign that aims to slow the growth of Australia's export coal industry.

Palmer was recently declared a Living National Treasure, alongside Kylie Minogue among others. Like others in his industry he is also firmly opposed to two new Australian taxes. One, a Carbon Tax, will impact the coal industry by forcing polluters to pay for their CO2 emissions. A new Minerals Resources Rent Tax will tax profits of some mining companies.

Those profits have soared thanks to unprecedented levels of demand for coal and iron ore from China and India. Palmer's company, Mineralogy, has been one of the beneficiaries of the boom in coal and iron ore prices.

The Greenpeace campaign centres on a document titled Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom (PDF) which explicitly states that “Our strategy is to ‘disrupt and delay’ key projects and infrastructure while gradually eroding public and political support for the industry and continually building the power of the movement to win more.” Greenpeace hopes to do so in order to build support for fuels other than coal, in order to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions.

The Greenpeace document says it is “... based on extensive research into the Australian coal industry, made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Family Fund.”

That statement is Palmer's smoking gun, as he said at an event today, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and other outlets, that "You only have to go back and read the Church Report in the 1970s and to read the reports to the US Congress which sets up the Rockefeller Foundation as a conduit of CIA funding.”

"You only have to look at their secret budget which was passed by Congress last year, bigger than our whole national economy, which the CIA's got to ensure that.”

"You only have to read the reports to US Congress when the CIA reported to the president that their role was to ensure the US competitive advantage and economic advantages.

"That's how you know it's funded by the CIA."

Greenpeace and the Australian Greens have both laughed off the claims.

Today's statements come just weeks after Palmer, frustrated by the axing of his football team from Australia's A-League competition, set up a rival peak body for Australian football. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like