Rear Window

Get Up! drives its members to a bank run by big mining figure

Bryce CorbettColumnist

Mar 28, 2017 – 10.30pm

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In this golden age of clicktivism, isn't it nice to know there are activist outfits providing a holistic solution to the big business of social conscious relief?

Take for example our friends at Get Up – that rowdy little band of social activists currently led by national director Paul Oosting who have mastered the art of pretending to be nothing more than a rag-tag collection of downtrodden students rather than the well-oiled political machine they have become.

We note with interest a campaign being run by Get Up, urging their one million plus clicktivist members to do their bit for the ozone by switching banks as part of its "Brighter Banks" campaign.

Paul Oosting, national director of GetUp: clipping the ticket on the big bank switch. GetUp

"Almost 7000 Get Up members like you have pledged to ditch the Big Four banks making it clear that their $10 billion investment in fossil fuels will damage their reputations and their bottom lines," an email from the organisation reads. "Members have been emailing us, asking which bank they should switch to. There are strict laws preventing us from giving you financial advice. But we can tell you that Bank Australia is an ethical alternative, with firm commitments against lending to the fossil fuel industry."

There's incentive for Get Up too: "For every person who switches to Bank Australia through the Brighter Banks campaign, Get Up receives a financial contribution – allowing us to do even more to fight for a safe climate future."

Or more specifically, as the Bank Australia website puts it: "We will contribute $50 to GetUp for every switcher who deposits $2000 or more every month (eg salary) into their Everyday Access Account." And with an estimated 1,015,140 members, that's a potentially tidy windfall for Get Up!

We wonder, however, if Get Up are the least bit concerned that the chair of their preferred financial institution, Judith Downes, is a former highly paid mining executive of Alumina Ltd – proud operators of an aluminium smelter which are hardly known for their clean and green credentials?

Before taking the chair of the bank, Downes was the CFO of the ASX 100 mining company. And prior to that she toiled for ANZ, one of those big, dirty banks.

So GetUp! are running an anti-mining campaign with a bank chaired by a former senior mining executive. And while we'd never seek to hold a person to account for their past employment (after all Damascene conversions can happen to the best of us) it does beg the question: what price Get Up's principles? And more specifically: is that price 50 bucks per member?

Bryce Corbett co-writes The Australian Financial Review's Rear Window column. He is a journalist with more than 20 years' experience. He lives in Brisbane and Sydney. Connect with Bryce on Twitter. Email Bryce at bryce.corbett@fairfaxmedia.com.au