Follow the money: Heartland Institute funding the anti-Carbon Tax campaign

Via the Canberra Times, further evidence of Heartland’s nefarious influence on Australian politics:

Documents from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that a group funded by the Heartland Institute, via a thicket of other foundations and think tanks, provided the vast majority of the cash for an anti-carbon price lobby group in Australia in 2009 and 2010.

The Australian Climate Science Coalition, an offshoot of a conservative lobby group called the Australian Environment Foundation, received virtually all its funding from the International Climate Science Coalition, which has been financially supported by Heartland.

In 2010, the Australian group had an income of $50,920, and $46,343 of that came from the American Climate Science Coalition, an offshoot of the International Climate Science Coalition, the ASIC documents show. The amount of public donations received was nil.

And of course, our friend Bob Carter is involved;

The chief science adviser to the International Climate Science Coalition is Bob Carter, an adjunct professor at Queensland’s James Cook University.

When the Herald asked Professor Carter if people should be concerned about his impartiality given that he is on the Heartland Institute’s payroll, he said: ”No more so than you should be concerned that a CSIRO employee is paid by the government.”

Professor Carter would not discuss the details of the ”monthly payment” of $US1667 ($1547) to him in the Heartland Institute’s budget

One has to question the role of right-wing American think tank have in trying to shape the Australian political debate.