Cam Walker, from FoE Australia, reports:
We had our ‘day in court’ yesterday [Sept 21], appearing at the House of Reps hearing into green groups.
We had a solid and well prepared team at the table: Sam Castro, Julien Vincent, Nicola Paris and myself.
We had a fantastic support team, who helped us prepare (thanks to Ben Courtice for the research, Andrew Laird for channeling his inner George Christensen and grilling us with lots of hard questions, Leigh for media strategy, Phil for great images, and many people like Lou Sales and John Glue, who commented on drafts of our presentation).
And lots of people turned up at the hearing to support us.
Then we had the ‘defend the defenders’ rally outside the hearings, which had an awesome turnout. We had a great presence at that – nice visuals from yes 2 renewables, and Phil even handing out membership forms!
Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/events/430687940462368/
I think we presented really well, we mostly controlled the frame of the debate and questions, and they got no ammo to use against us. Strangely, the arch nasty, George Christensen delivered a very lacklustre performance. The many months spent on responding to ATO and Dept investigations paid off, as we were able to remind the committee we have been investigated 3 times, and been found to be compliant each time.
There’s a bit of commentary here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/21/green-groups-call-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-keep-tax-deductible-status
Its certainly not over, but we are past a watershed moment in the government’s campaign against the movement. Thanks everyone, we pulled together and done good.
onwards
Cam Walker,
Campaigns Coordinator