Manildra Group of Companies

From Lobbyocracy.org.au

Documents proving that Australian Prime Minister John Howard lied to parliament over a secret meeting he had with a prominent ethanol producer have demonstrated the increasingly arbitrary and autocratic manner in which his government operates.

The prime minister met with Dick Honan, chairman of the Manildra Group, on August 1, 2002, just weeks before a highly significant government decision to change taxation and subsidy arrangements for the ethanol industry. The changes were effected to protect the company from foreign competition.

On three consecutive days, beginning September 17 last year, Australian Labor Party MPs asked John Howard in federal parliament whether he had met with Dick Honan prior to the introduction of the new subsidy scheme. On September 19, 2002 the prime minister told parliament that there was no such meeting and directly denied speaking with the Manildra Group chief about ethanol excise arrangements.

Honan has also been a major donor to the Liberal and National parties. Electoral Commission records show that for 2001-2002 alone, Manildra gave $145,350 to the National Party and $95,741 to the Liberals. Thousands more was given to the coalition parties in New South Wales, Manildra’s home state.

In return, Manildra’s ethanol production received ongoing government protection. All ethanol sales were exempted from excise, providing the company with a vital competitive advantage over the heavily taxed petroleum industry. In 2002 the Howard government made a further commitment to support an increase in local production from the current level of about 80 million litres per year to 350 million litres by 2010.

Manildra's chief executive chairman, Dick Honan, lobbied the Coalition Government for favorable tax treatment of ethanol and to oppose Labor plans to remove the current excise exemption on ethanol. On the 12th of September, Prime Minister John Howard announced a 38.5 cents-per-liter excise on all ethanol. Dick Honan's company is now receiving about $2 million a month in excise.

From article and for more information see: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/aug2003/howa-a30.shtml

NSW Labor

In the 2007/08 financial year Manildra donated $95,000 to the Australian Labor Party (NSW), months before the Labor government tripled the first legislated mandate for ethanol in petrol. It is also expected that NSW Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, will approve a $400-million expansion of Manildra's Nowra plant.^[1]