hillary clinton <u+2019>s campaign accuses vladimir putin of interfering in america<u+2019>s election by supposedly supporting donald trump. but australians have a well-founded complaint about one of the democratic nominee<u+2019>s key advisers. campaign chairman john podesta helped coordinate a green lobbying and lawfare campaign to stifle the australian coal industry, emails released by wikileaks show. australian greens are fighting a new a$16 billion ($12.24 billion) mine in queensland that would supply coal to indian power plants and create 10,000 jobs. the federal government and labor party-controlled state government approved the project with more than 200 environmental conditions. but the sunshine project and other groups continue to file nuisance lawsuits to block it. tax-exempt charities can accept foreign money under australian law but they can<u+2019>t lobby the government. in this case the u.s.-based sandler foundation, part of the anticoal coalition led by mr. podesta, contributed to the sunrise campaign against the mine that clearly constituted lobbying. in emails to mr. podesta, sunrise<u+2019>s john hepburn seeks ideas on how to retain its charitable status and avoid disclosing its funding to a parliamentary committee. the emails spell out how sunrise gave financial support and scholarships to indigenous groups to block the mine. australian politicians are furious. prime minister malcolm turnbull condemned these <u+201c>very systematic, very well-funded campaigns against major projects.<u+201d> resources minister matt canavan said the greens <u+201c>seek to subvert our legal system for political ends.<u+201d> the government is considering legislation to restrict charities from bringing lawsuits. new delhi and the company backing the mine, adani group , are also upset. power minister piyush goyal says the delays <u+2018><u+2019>will certainly dampen future investments<u+2019><u+2019> in australia. without the queensland mine, india will have to import lower-grade coal from indonesia and elsewhere, leading to more pollution. the institute of public affairs in sydney released a report last month that found 87% of the lawsuits that green groups bring under the environmental protection act fail. yet they cause delays that cost australia up to a$1.2 billion annually. the global anticoal campaign supported by mr. podesta has so far succeeded in stopping the queensland mine. but its use of deception and foreign money could spark a backlash. in one email, mr. hepburn told his foreign supporters that, <u+201c>without your support none of this would have happened.<u+201d> then he mocked those who claim <u+201c>there is some kind of foreign-funded and tightly orchestrated conspiracy to systemically destroy the australian coal industry,<u+201d> ending with a self-congratulatory joke: <u+201c>i seriously don<u+2019>t know where they get these wacky ideas from.<u+201d> australians aren<u+2019>t amused.
john podesta down under - wsj
noauthor