Carbon crusading North Sydney teal Kylea Tink defends shares in oil, gas and tolls
The North Sydney MP has defended her shares in oil, gas and one of the world’s largest toll road operaters after the investments were revealed.
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Climate crusading North Sydney teal independent MP Kylea Tink holds shares in oil and gas producers and refiners as well as in one of the world’s largest toll road operators, according to her statement of interests filed with parliament.
However, in response to questions put to her by this newspaper, Ms Tink claimed that she only bought the shares to engage in “shareholder activism”.
According to papers filed by Ms Tink last week, her personal investment portfolio includes shares in Beach Energy Ltd, Viva Energy Group Ltd, and Transurban Group.
According to the company’s website, Beach Energy supplies “approximately 12 per cent of the gas on the East Coast of Australia, and is aiming to grow this to 16 per cent” through a variety of onshore and offshore gas projects.
Viva Energy operates the Geelong Refinery in Victoria, one of two remaining oil refineries in Australia.
Transurban, meanwhile, is a major operator of toll roads and last year collected more than $600 million in revenue from Sydney drivers, most of them operating petroleum and diesel internal combustion vehicles.
None of her other holdings, which include a major real estate fund and a company that manages indoor sports facilities and golf prop shops, appear to be tied to renewable energy despite her campaigning on a platform of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
In a recent speech to parliament in favour of amendments to the Albanese government’s climate bill Ms Tink said that “this is the critical decade for climate action.”
“We need a clear and actionable plan to reduce national emissions, guided by experts, to achieve at least 60 per cent (reductions) by 2030.”
“The decision made in the next three years will fundamentally affect our children’s and their children’s future,” she said.
Her website called for an “evidence based plan to achieve net zero by 2040”, ten years earlier than the 2050 target recently enshrined into law.
Ms Tink’s North Sydney campaign was also backed by a group calling itself North Sydney Independent, which announced Monday that it is seeking to field a candidate to run against Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts in his seat of Lane Cove at next year’s state election.
A spokesperson said that Ms Tink “purchased small shareholdings in a number of companies where she felt shareholder activism may be a way to both better understand the entities involved and potentially exert pressure from within to drive in reform.”
“In each instance, Kylea has been very vocal in her desire to see change and reform and remains committed to exploring shareholder activism as a way to affect change,” she said.
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Originally published as Carbon crusading North Sydney teal Kylea Tink defends shares in oil, gas and tolls
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