‘Change from within’: Climate independent MP defends fossil fuel shares
Author: Michael Koziol
Climate 200-backed independent Kylea Tink says she purchased “small shareholdings” in two fossil fuel companies to better understand their operations and potentially drive change from within. Tink – who was elected as the federal independent MP for North Sydney in May alongside several other “teals” – owns shares in Viva Energy Group, which refines oil for Shell in Australia and owns Geelong Oil Refinery, and Beach Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production firm. Tink did not disclose how many shares she bought but said she donated her dividend payments to renewable energy campaigns or emissions offsetting. Her spokesperson did not answer questions about the extent of her shareholder activism, whether she attended any shareholder meetings or whether she would now divest her shares. Viva Energy says its Geelong refinery supplies more than 50 per cent of Victoria’s fuel. It also wants to develop a floating terminal in Corio Bay, at the Geelong end of Port Phillip, which could receive super-chilled cargoes of LNG from Western Australia or overseas.