Oil Giant Chevron Bows To Pressure, Ends Australia Day Sponsorship

The day after a campaign was launched to stop Chevron sponsoring Australia Day, the National Australia Day Council (NADC) has confirmed that the partnership will end.

Chevron is the ‘diversity and inclusion’ partner of the NADC, which runs Australia Day events and Australian of the Year awards.

Yesterday, on 23 November, Comms Declare launched a petition to the NADC and Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, calling for an end to the Chevron agreement and highlighting the need for a tobacco-style ban on all fossil fuel sponsorships.

NADC CEO Karlie Brand subsequently wrote to Comms Declare stating that the three year Chevron sponsorship deal will end on 30 June 2023 and will not be extended.

It is not clear if 2023 Australian of the Year recipients will still be asked to attend Chevron events or if the Western Australian Australia Day Council, Auspire, will continue its partnership with the U.S oil giant.

This follows revelations that Grace Tame, refused to attend Chevron events while the Australian of the Year in 2021.

While speaking at the Purpose Conference in October, Grace Tame explained how Australian of the Year recipients are coerced into appearing at Chevron events as a condition of receiving travel reimbursements.

“On the day they wanted me to do something for Chevron, and I just said ‘nup’ and I didn’t do it,” she said.

As part of the sponsorship deal, Chevron has representatives on the state bodies that choose Australian of the Year recipients. An analysis has found that the 2022 state and territory selection panels with Chevron staff members (WA, NT, QLD) did not recognise any Australians that worked in climate and environment in any category but ACT, NSW, TAS and VIC all did.

Comms Declare, an industry body representing hundreds of workers in advertising, media, PR and marketing, wrote a letter to NADC CEO, Karlie Brand, about the Chevron sponsorship on 17 October and received no response until it launched the campaign.

Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare said; “We welcome Australia Day and Chevron parting ways but these arrangements should never be allowed to happen in the first place.

“Australia was a leader in stopping the promotion of tobacco. Global warming is now our biggest health challenge and banning all fossil fuel sponsorships is the next logical step.

“We need a tobacco-style ban on all fossil fuel sponsorships to disentangle our public institutions from this polluting influence,” she added.

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