The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has said it was never involved in an industry anti-carbon tax campaign that led consumer lobby group, Get Up, to send warning letters to 150 food and grocery companies.
On 1 July, the Sydney Morning Herald, reported the Australian Trade and Industry Alliance, which includes the AFGC, was planning to spend at least $10 million on a campaign that would be similar to that run by the mining tax a year ago.
This week, activist group Get Up sent a letter to AFGC’s members, which include major food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, Sanitarium, Heinz, Kraft, McDonald’s, Schweppes and Nestlé, warning it would boycott them if they chose to participate in a carbon tax scare campaign.
“Big industry groups more concerned with protecting profits than protecting jobs and the environment have built a $10m war-chest with the intention of mounting an extensive fear campaign following this Sunday’s carbon price package announcement,” GetUp National Director Simon Sheikh said in a statement released yesterday.
“We’re not just going to roll over and allow industry to hold our climate ransom, which is why we’re clarifying individual companies’ positions, and seeking to hold them accountable.
“When news broke that the Australian Food and Grocery Council had put its support behind a multi-million dollar campaign to fight proposed legislation to put a price on carbon pollution, many GetUp members urged us to assist them in contacting AFGC members to express their concern. We knew that many of those companies would have no idea that the AFGC had signed up to the campaign, so we wrote to them asking for clarification.”
Listen to AFGC Kate Carnell’s response to Get Up’s letter:
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Image: en.domotica.net