Wealthy fund manager invests in oil and gas … and Climate 200-backed teals
A Liberal Party senator has accused Climate 200-backed teal independents of hypocrisy over accepting donations from a wealthy fund manager whose company invests heavily in the oil and gas sector.
NSW
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A wealthy fund manager whose company invests heavily in the fossil fuel sector continues to be a big-spending donor to Climate 200-backed teal independents ahead of the upcoming federal election.
The revelation has Liberal Senator James Paterson claiming the donations don’t “pass the pub test” and teals who accept the handouts should be slammed for “hypocrisy”.
Fred Woollard, founder and managing director of Samuel Terry Asset Management, which boasts more than $850 million in funds under management and has two oil and gas companies among its top six holdings, has splashed cash in recent months.
He has donated as an individual or through a corporate vehicle, Keep Them Honest, with ASIC records showing Woollard and his wife Therese Cochrane are the only two directors of the company.
Woollard, who lives in a Darling Point house that last changed hands in 2020 for $13.2 million, is also the Keep Them Honest company secretary.
A $50,000 donation in December to Wentworth MP Allegra Spender and an undisclosed figure to Nicolette Boele, running for the seat of Bradfield, have been publicly disclosed on the two teal independents’ websites.
Teal MPs Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall – who are sharing billboard advertising as they campaign in the seats of Mackellar and Warringah respectively – have not disclosed their 2025 donations to date.
Steggall declined to confirm any recent donations from Woollard, telling The Daily Telegraph: “All donations to my 2025 election campaign will be disclosed in accordance with the rules”.
But Australian Electoral Commission data confirms Steggall and Scamps were both backed by Keep Them Honest ahead of the 2022 federal election and for the financial year ending June 2024.
Scamps received $75,000 and Steggall $70,000 across that period.
Spender also received $50,000 for the 2022 election campaign and $45,000 during FY24.
Keep Them Honest donated a total of $170,000 across teal candidates for the 2022 election.
For the approaching election, a Climate 200 backed independent candidate for the seat of Wannon in Victoria, Alex Dyson, has received $75,000 in donations from Keep Them Honest since January.
Katherine Chaney, a teal campaigning in the West Australian seat of Curtin, has declared $75,000 in donations from Keep Them Honest since September and Zoe Daniel, the teal MP for Goldstein in Victoria, has received $66,000 in two donations over the past seven months.
Samuel Terry Asset Management was established in 2003 by Woollard and reported in a fund summary in December how its top holdings included oil and gas companies Horizon and Karoon Energy.
It also invested in oil exploration business Diamond Offshore Drilling.
Senator Paterson said: “How is it that teal candidates, backed by Climate 200, feel that they can continue to spout a pro-green agenda and cry political transparency while taking money connected to the very industry they tell Australians they are so against?
“It doesn’t pass the pub test. More teal hypocrisy is disappointing but unfortunately not surprising.
“The teals need to be honest with their voters and come clean on these questionable donations.”
The Daily Telegraph spoke with Woollard last week after revealing he had been named among the donors to Boele “whose gifts totalled over $1500 during FY25”.
“My day job is to make money for my clients,” he said. “Our firm does invest in a wide variety of assets. They include oil and also renewable energy. In my private life I like to encourage climate change action.”
Woollard declined to comment further on Wednesday.
Climate 200 supports “community-backed” independents standing on climate-related issues including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court was contacted for comment.
Scamps was also approached for comment.
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Originally published as Wealthy fund manager invests in oil and gas … and Climate 200-backed teals
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