Posted by Rita Mu
Consumer lobby group Get Up has threatened to boycott major food companies if they oppose the carbon tax.
Get Up sent a letter to 150 companies, including Coca-Cola, Sanitarium, Heinz, Kraft, McDonald’s, Schweppes and Nestlé, warning its 57,000 members would boycott providers of goods and services linked to the scare campaign against the carbon tax.
Australian Food and Grocery Council Chief Executive Kate Carnell described the move by the lobby group as blackmail and bullying.
"There is no doubt this is blackmail,” she told the Herald Sun.
"I’m horrified that an entity like Get Up who supposedly encourage free speech, seems only to believe that’s OK when people agree with Get Up.
"Threatening a boycott is really bullying.”
Carnell said her members were not climate change deniers but they did have concern about the carbon tax harming competitiveness and the 300,000 jobs in the food and grocery sector.
Image: A pro-carbon tax rally organised by lobby group, Get Up, earlier this year in March in Melbourne. Source: indymedia.org.au