What’s the scam with the powerful and secretive lobby group APPEA? The lobbyists who tout for Santos, Shell, BP, Exxon, Origin and Woodside have been hiding their financial accounts for two years.
We put this to ASIC, and they can’t work it out either. “We are not aware of any reason they would not have lodged financial reports,” said a spokesperson for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The fossil fuel profits of APPEA members have gone stratospheric but APPEA has gone from publishing accounts on its website a few years ago, to just quietly lodging them with the regulator, then to morphing into a “small company” though lodging accounts, to nothing at all.
Gas lobby APPEA calls for transparency while its own financial reports vanish. What’s the scam?
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) is a company limited by guarantee with revenues of more than $1m.
Under the Corporations Act (which even applies to foreign multinationals operating in Australia), a “Company limited by guarantee with annual (or consolidated) revenue of $1 million or more” is required to “prepare a financial report”.
APPEA last filed with the regulator on Nov 27, 2020, as: “Financial Report – Small Pty Co./small Pub Co. Lmgt That Is Requested By Asic To Prepare & Lodge Statements And Reports (FR 2020) (388J)”.
The year before, they told ASIC they were a “Public Company Or Disclosing Entity (FR 2019) (388A)”. Presumably they suddenly changed their mind sometime after this and decided to become a small company.
Requests for an interview with chief executive Samantha McCullogh have been ignored. The APPEA PR guy has told Michael West Media he would not be disclosing them.
APPEA got the South Australian government to push through the most draconian anti-peaceful-protest laws in the country in the wake of its annual conference in Adelaide this year.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.