Independent ACT senator David Pocock will not be refunding a $50,000 donation from wealthy investors who have been revealed as having stakes in the fossil fuel industry, including an offshore drilling company.
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Senator Pocock insists he welcomes a higher level of scrutiny of donations, after making an ethical stand during the May 2022 federal election, but he does not regard the significant donation from the company Keep Them Honest as accepting funding directly from a fossil fuel company or their representative.
Donations from Fred Woollard and his wife Therese Cochrane, as well as their company Keep Them Honest, have come under the spotlight after the NSW Greens - in the midst of a state election campaign - handed back $7000 for violating their own ban on donations connected to the fossil fuel industry.
Mr Woollard and Ms Cochrane are the founders, managing director and general manager of the $650 million Samuel Terry boutique investment fund. The investments by the fund management company, outlined by the Sydney Morning Herald, include 8 per cent in oil and gas company, Horizon Oil and 15 per cent in offshore drilling contractor, Diamond Offshore Drilling. It also has significant investment in renewable energy and Mr Woollard regards his political donations as having "nothing to do with the fund".
As revealed in the Australian Electoral Commission's annual dump of political donation data, Keep Them Honest was among the largest donors to the former Wallabies captain's successful campaign to unseat the Liberal senator Zed Seselja, donating $50,000.
Senator Pocock has not met nor spoken to the couple, but did vet donors during the election, particularly over fossil fuels.
He has previously told The Canberra Times that he knocked back a large number of corporate donations during the May election. His stance was a refusal to take money from companies in the fields of fossil fuels, tobacco, junk food, property development or gambling.
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"During my campaign I set boundaries around what donations I would and wouldn't accept that were well above what's required under current rules," Senator Pocock said in a statement.
"As a result I knocked back a range of donations to avoid any real or perceived conflicts of interest down the track.
"A large number of the donations I did accept are from people looking to see more integrity in politics and action on climate, which aligns with the majority view of the community I have been elected to represent."
The federal Greens have also taken the position that they will not be following their state party over $75,000 in donations over 20 years from the couple.
The key crossbench senator has been advocating for reform of political donations.
"I welcome a higher level of scrutiny of donations and am keen to see this applied to the major parties. We need to lower the disclosure threshold and bring in real-time disclosures - donation disclosures eight months after an election is not good enough," he said.
"It is pretty wild that in 2022 the Nationals were still taking money from tobacco and all the major parties accepted big donations from gambling and alcohol as well as fossil fuel companies and their representatives. I believe Australians expect and deserve better from political parties and elected representatives."
A major shakeup of election donation laws, including lowering the threshold for donations to be disclosed from about $15,000 to $1000 and real-time reporting of donations, was flagged last year by the Special Minister of State Don Farrell.