OPINION – “DARK MONEY” WEAKENS AUSTRALIA

(Published, Courier-Mail, April 13, 2026)

Mining doesn’t just support the Australian economy, it is the economy. 

But numerous forces are arrayed against this important industry. Forces who receive foreign donations from sources they refuse to reveal.

This dark money is trying to turn public, and political, opinion against mining, and in doing so, threatens to weaken Australia.

From the copper fields of Cloncurry to the iron ore and gas wealth of Western Australia, our national prosperity has always been built on resources. 

With a nation so abundant in resources, it’s imperative we return to drilling and mining for our own sovereign capability as well as to supply trading partners.

It’s time that Australia produced its own fuel. Drilling in places such as the Officer, Arckaringa, Eucla and Bight Basins will replace the declining Bass Strait fields and again produce domestic supply. 

Instead of wasting 100s of millions on hydrogen pipe dreams we should be producing oil to power agriculture and gas to produce fertiliser here. 

It’s crucial now more than ever that governments support the exploration and development of oil and gas reserves to back in energy security, local manufacturing and jobs, and to bring energy prices down.

We need to be unlocking new resource corridors to drive our economy, so we are less reliant on imports, while creating more jobs and prosperity.

Yet too many Australians still see mining as a distant, regional activity, rather than the engine that funds jobs, infrastructure, healthcare and household stability across the country.

On a recent holiday to Japan, I toured a rehabilitated copper mine and overheard an Australian couple. The husband praised the economic contribution of mining, but his wife was concerned about environmental impacts.

This sums up the attitude of many Australians who know we need to mine, but who also don’t realise mining in this country impacts only about 1% of our entire landmass.

At a time when cost-of-living pressures dominate public concern, we must reconnect the dots. Every royalty, every export dollar, every mining job flows through to stronger communities and essential services. Undermining this sector through policy uncertainty, excessive regulation, or ideological opposition risks weakening the very foundation of our economy.

The Environmental Defenders Office alone, in addition to tax holding deductible gift recipient status, is receiving $6.7 million in Federal funding from the Albanese Labor Government over the next three years – despite being publicly condemned by the Federal Court.

And even more worryingly, they received a blind grant from unknown sources paying off the costs they were ordered to pay.

This funding has come with no strings attached – and no disclosure as to where it has come from.

Australia has some of the strictest political disclosure laws in the world but groups like the EDO, who actively campaign against the prosperity of Australia are not subject to such laws.

In 2014, the then Secretary-General of NATO said that the Russian Government was responsible for the anti-fracking campaign in the United Kingdom.

This campaign undermined the UK’s energy sovereignty and ultimately on financial security, allegedly to increase Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. We would be naive to think that campaigns like that are NOT playing out here in Australia.

Here in Australia, we have had the EDO attempt to disrupt and discredit a gas project critical to Australia’s energy security, and vital for the energy security of our close partners like Korea and Japan, who supply our liquid fuels.

A group which received $6.5 million from a mystery donor to pay their court-ordered costs after being found to have confected evidence. Why this issue is not of more concern astounds me.

In this increasingly uncertain and unstable time, the transfer of dark monies to ‘activist’ or ‘philanthropic’ groups to pay for their targeted anti-mining campaigns must be a key focus of us all.

Many such groups repeatedly claim to be fully transparent in their funding arrangements, but when one looks at the financial disclosures of the Australia Institute, or the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, those statements simply list dollar figures next to generic ‘revenue’ items.

No clarity, no detail, no transparency.

Where is this funding coming from?

What is it being used for?

Are there malicious actors attempting to influence our decisions and weaken Australia?

We must have more transparency of who or what is funding these groups.

If they are running campaigns to actively undermine or sabotage Australia’s energy or economic security, not just through lawfare but campaigns such as gas reservations, increased taxes, bans on seismic and greenfield coal projects – they must disclose where their funding comes from.

The fundamental truth is that our economy is wholly reliant on the strength and success of our resources sector. Billions in corporate taxes, royalties, wages and PAYG tax. Thousands of Australian businesses supported by the strength of mining; hundreds of thousands of jobs generated; millions of Australian families who can rely on publicly-funded Medicare; all thanks to the resources sector.

Yet they are not connecting the dots of how the resources sector contributes to the economy. And this is our failure. We need to ensure that these issues, which are harming Australia’s investment environment, harming new projects, stalling approvals, are not impacting the mining industry, and all that it contributes to.

We must re-energise our economy, rebuild investment confidence, and restore our way of life. Because this is worth fighting for.

Includes excerpts from a keynote speech to the Minerals Week Conference in Canberra this week.

Senator McDonald is Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia

ENDS