A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has confirmed the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority Board (BGPA) was in the process of finalising an agreement for US mining giant Alcoa to be a diamond sponsor of the Everlasting Spring Festival event at Kings Park for 2025 and 2026.
The sponsorship deal for the event, which ran from 12 - 29 September, was $100,000 per year for the next two years, with an option to end the agreement after the first year.
Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) Executive Director Matt Roberts said that despite the BGPA representative stating it had no sponsor for the event, the FOI had revealed that negotiations with Alcoa were well advanced – to the point where the Kings Park Board had approved proceeding with a diamond sponsorship deal.
“It was only after media exposed this grotesque demonstration of greenwashing by Alcoa, and turned a spotlight on the Kings Park Board, that the sponsorship agreement seemed to disappear - until this FOI brought it into the light of day,” Mr Roberts said.
“This event highlights why transparency on corporate sponsorship is so important and demonstrates a worrying trend by big industry to increasingly seek to buy social license by channeling funding through public institutions.
“Whether it's Alcoa at the Botanic Gardens, Woodside at the WA Maritime Museum, or Chevron at Scitech, we need to shine a light on these attempts to greenwash industries that are destroying our forests and fueling the climate crisis.
“The FOI process has been critical in identifying what happened in this instance - and it’s crucial we have proper access to information, rather than PR lines and a political class that wants to stage manage their corporate interactions. We need to ensure transparency at a state and federal level.
“We were appalled that a company in the process of seeking approval to destroy another 11,500ha of Perth’s unique Northern Jarrah Forest would be allowed to buy social license through association with this nature-based event.
“Despite full awareness that Alcoa was seeking approval to expand its destruction of the Northern Jarrah Forest and recognising the ‘significant public concern’ surrounding this, correspondence from a BGPA employee stated that Alcoa would be a ‘good fit’ with Kings Park due to ‘aligned values’ and ‘shared environmental objectives’.
“The employee noted they were ‘delighted’ with the sponsorship offer but would have to ‘carefully frame sponsorship messaging’. It wished Alcoa ‘all the best’ with its ‘environmental approvals process’.
“The FOI document also revealed that Alcoa staff were to be invited to a VIP event to develop ‘a series of tailored activities and opportunities to promote Alcoa’. However, it noted that ‘given the current media landscape and potential sensitivities surrounding Alcoa’ it was proposed the miner not have ‘deep engagement’ in the Everlasting Ideas Event.”
Correspondence from the documents obtained under the FOI stated: “...Given the current media landscape and potential sensitivities surrounding Alcoa, it may be prudent to focus our efforts on broader festival support and brand recognition, rather than deep engagement in this zone. This approach allows us to maintain a strong and positive presence while navigating any challenging interactions with care.”
Mr Roberts said it was ironic that Alcoa’s expansion plans before the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for approval would see the equivalent of 27.5 Kings Parks bulldozed to extract bauxite in and around Perth’s drinking water catchment.
“This is an overseas-based company which has already bulldozed 28,000ha of our precious Northern Jarrah Forest over the past 60 years,” he said.
“Any decision to link Alcoa with a festival related to protecting the environment is not only inappropriate, but also completely tone deaf.
"There’s no doubt that Alcoa owes a debt to our society, but this sponsorship deal was nothing but a gross attempt to paint itself as a good corporate citizen, while in reality it is anything but.
“The EPA held public comment period on the expansion plans last year, with 59,000 people signing on to a submission by the End Forest Mining alliance calling for an end to its bauxite mining operations in the Darling Range.
“This level of public objection is unprecedented and sends a clear signal that West Australians are united in their disgust at the ongoing decimation of the only jarrah forest on the planet, home to a host of endangered species including our beloved black cockatoos.
“Alcoa has a history of looking at partnerships to buy its social license, but, in light of what is happening to our Northern Jarrah Forest, we have to draw a line in the sand and stop giving them any credibility – especially when it comes to nature.”
LINK TO FOI DOCUMENTS:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18GlGQhwAuy0OPj8rHBYNXkGrW2nkb35-/view?usp=sharing
ENDS
Media contact:
John Cooke, Media Advisor
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