“Taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars each year to fund a progressive advocacy network that is crowding them out of public debate,” said Jordan Abou-Zeid, Research Assistant and Deputy Manager of Generation Liberty at the Institute of Public Affairs.
In a major report released today, Stacking the Deck: How Government Lobbies Itself and Funds the Distortion of Democracy, IPA analysis details how state and federal governments fund non-government organisations who engage in policy advocacy back to the government and the community.
From the 2021 financial year to the 2025 financial year, Australian governments spent a cumulative $2.24 billion on 100 selected NGOs significantly engaged in “diversity and multiculturalism advocacy” ($1.04 bn), “public health and nanny state advocacy” ($622.2m), “welfare state advocacy and lawfare” ($309.6m), “indigenous co-governance advocacy” ($96.7m), and “green advocacy” ($169.8m).
“Democracy means nothing if not the ability to have a free and fair debate, but bureaucrats are blatantly distorting this debate by giving their weight and billions of taxpayer dollars to favour one side,” said Mr Abou-Zeid.
“When governments provide extraordinary financial support lobbying itself on diversity, nanny state, co-governance, and green policies, it generates a false perception that debate on these issues is settled.”
“Australians who hold mainstream views are made to feel they are more fringe or marginal than they really are.”
The analysis finds persistent government funding of left-leaning advocacy, with no examples of funding support for the other side of the political spectrum.
“The analysis highlights that this spending is not ‘waste’ – it is deliberate and intended to achieve a particular objective of stacking the deck of public debate,” said Mr Abou-Zeid.
“Mainstream Australians who feel that the political system and political class does not represent them can hardly be blamed given they are routinely locked out of equal participation in the debates that concern them.”
Click here to read STACKING THE DECK: How government lobbies itself and funds the distortion of democracy
