David Pocock in August in his role as co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Clean Investment. Photo: David Pocock Instagram.
It is beyond absurd that David Pocock – a member of parliament and a former Wallabies captain, no less – was kicked out of a football competition because he raised legitimate questions about the gambling lobby sponsoring it on the grounds of Parliament House.
It is also absurd that a footy comp, comprising parliamentarians paid a base salary of more than $211,000 a year (before we get into the endless list of perks they all enjoy – and some enjoy way too much) can’t put their hands into their own pockets to fork out for whatever the sponsorship money was used for.
If you want your young’un to play rugby league in the ACT, as an example, expect to pay to register the player and pay for jerseys and probably burn yourself cooking a sausage or two at home games or at Bunnings so the club can keep the lights on and maybe pay for the cost of a jersey for a player from a family doing it tough (probably because of dumb-arse policies initiated by idiots getting paid too much to play football on manicured lawns while being sponsored by gambling lobbyists).
Of course, you’re expected to pay, because TINSTAAFL. Unless you write the laws, that is. Then you can sell access. Free lunch tends to come with an entree, main, dessert and a squiz at the wine list.
So, is that what’s most galling about this latest episode on the Hill? That apparently our leaders can be bought and bought so damn cheaply?
No. Not really.
If you’ve been paying attention for more than five minutes, you’ll know that we were sold out long ago. The fundraising for the next election starts when the last red or blue balloon is popped on election night, and Barnaby is wheeled to the flower pot.
We know our concerns are the last thing on our elected leaders’ minds. If they are at all.
So no. That’s not galling. That’s expected.
What’s galling is Pocock’s endless whining and moralising. Not that he’s not allowed to play with his ‘friends’ – no doubt they’ll enjoy some peace and quiet. It’s his whinging. About everything. And always.
And the hypocrisy.
He’s got the hide to complain about lobbyists – not just in this instance but in all instances. Be it gambling or anything else he doesn’t like – such as ‘fossil fuels’ (used to make rugby balls, just saying).
If you can stand Pocock’s peacocking, go to his Instagram feed. It’s relentless. Let’s start with his campaign against lobbyists.
Yes, Senator, your election had more volunteers than you could allocate jobs to, but what about your donors? Not the little ones, let’s talk about the ones that matter.
In 2022, your biggest donor was Climate 200.
According to disclosures, for that election, the David Pocock party received $1.7 million in donations, both cash and in-kind, from 768 donors.
Of that, Climate 200’s total cash and in-kind contribution to Senator Pocock’s campaign amounted to $856,382 – $648,546 in cash and $207,836 in-kind support.
In the same disclosure in February 2023, Pocock noted some of his achievements. See if you can detect a theme.
“Last year was the start of ramping up Australia’s climate ambition. My team and I negotiated changes to the Climate Change Act to include an assessment of the climate risk in the annual statement on climate change, measures that increase the transparency of the advice given to government, a requirement for public consultation including with the scientific community when the Climate Change Authority is advising the minister on the annual statement on climate change, and a change to the Australian Renewable Energy Act to allow funding of technologies that will reduce emissions such as electric vehicle chargers.”
So Climate 200, which created and fed Pocock, and the Teals (but the Teals are certainly not a party, and how dare you think such things!), got a lot for its money, especially its public face and convenor, Simon Holmes à Court, who happens to be a major investor in wind farms and solar.
It should also be noted that Pocock is a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Clean Investment (guess what their goal is …)
The following two biggest donors to Pocock were Boundless Earth ($50,000), a charity founded by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, and financial trader Rob Keldoulis ($224,000).
Cannon-Brookes is a massive investor in renewables and renewable technology, and Keldoulis runs VivCourt, a share trading company.
Both were also major backers of Climate 200 in the 2022 election cycle (Boundless Earth, $1,115,000; and Kledoulis $1,102,000). Does that mean Pocock was double-dipping?
It must also be noted that for the 2025 campaign, the disclosures of which have yet to be made public, Pocock distanced himself from Climate 200. Truth be told, he has no need for them now, being able to run on his record – and the fact that the Liberals were vanquished meant he could stand on his own two feet as a true ‘independent’.
However, his advocacy for ‘climate action’ continues to align (and therefore benefit) the backers of Climate 200. It was a wise investment.
Is it all that different from what the gambling and mining companies do with eeeeevil lobbying, and sponsorship of a football comp? Except they have to convince politicians of their case. In contrast, Climate 200 gets people elected who are already on board. They’ve just cut out the middlemen – the lobbyists. But the result is the same.
It looks like a distinction without a difference.
When Pocock was kicked out of the footy club, he took to social media.
“Being kicked out of the club for raising concerns around gambling lobbyists buying access to the club shows the influence vested interests have here in parliament and just how normalised this has become.”
Those vested interests are forking out money to ensure they have access and, presumably, can get what they want. Do you think that might be why Pocock could trouser so much money from renewable energy billionaires?
He went on.
“It’s no wonder we haven’t seen the action to end gambling advertising the majority of Australians are desperate to see when gambling lobbyists are calling the shots in Canberra.”
Let’s rephrase that: It’s no wonder we continue forking out non-stop renewable energy subsidies that increase energy costs when renewable energy lobbyists (and billionaire donors) are calling the shots in Canberra.
And who are the most effective lobbyists for the Climate 200 billionaires?
Well, they’d be the people Pocock stands with at almost every press conference – the Teals. And, of course, Pocock himself.
