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A fresh round of bullets will be fired at a laundry list of big companies that were outed as contributors to the Yes campaign for the Voice to parliament. It will be the latest salvo in what has been a backlash against major companies bankrolling what are generally progressive causes.
Where companies that pushed other social objectives, such as same-sex marriage, managed to gain some halo effect, given the public seemed more broadly in favour, statistically speaking, the companies bankrolling the Yes campaign were not in lockstep with the majority of Australians.
Many big corporations said Yes. The public said No. Above: Yes campaign director Dean Parkin.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
Many of Australia’s biggest companies, including BHP, Rio, Telstra, the big four banks, Wesfarmers and Woolworths contributed millions of dollars to the Yes campaign.
As a public relations exercise the outcome is debatable. But these companies stood alongside many philanthropic organisations and individuals whose motives are clearer and cleaner – a desire to better the lives of Indigenous Australians.
Even more noteworthy was the absence of large listed contributors to the No campaign, which was mostly funded by individuals and their private companies. Clive Palmer was one of the largest in this category, while another was the lesser-known Simon Fenwick. He had previously given $1 million to the conservative lobby group Advance, which had concerns about COVID-19 restrictions, growing Chinese interference in Australia, and corporate hypocrisy on social values.
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But for companies, especially large companies, there remains some cynicism about funding progressive social causes – especially those that are controversial. They can be seen as just part of a brand fixing or marketing.
Rio Tinto and PwC could arguably be seen as falling into this category – the former, which tarred its reputation after blowing up artefact-rich Indigenous caves, and the latter for using confidential government information to win multinational clients.
In days gone by, large listed companies made significant donations to political parties that they justified as their desire to fund democracy.