Think tank funding fight
Australian think tanks are among the least transparent in the world when it comes to funding. There’s a push to change that.
The Trump administration's deep cuts to foreign aid are having an impact globally — and that includes Australia. As we reported on Friday, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is suspending some of its China-related research after the US government paused grants administered via the State Department.
That revelation encouraged us to take a deeper look at how Australia's think tanks are funded, from both governments and the private sector, and what we found was murky. It’s very difficult to determine where the flow of money is coming from to keep afloat some of these organisations, which contribute substantially to the nation’s policy debate.
In 2015, global consultancy business Transparify undertook a worldwide analysis that found Australian think tanks were among the worst in the world for transparency. It doesn’t appear this has improved in the years since.
Till Bruckner, an advocacy manager for Transparify, which is based in Sweden, told Capital Brief in an email that all think tanks should disclose on their websites how much money they have received and from which funders.
