Far be it from this publication to criticise anyone contributing to a greener world. Indeed,Independent Australiahas long advocated for climate action.

Nor would we condemn any billionaires wishing to part with some of their wealth for good instead of evil. After all, surely not all obscenely wealthy people are only obsessed with accumulating even more wealth and power?

However, when one such billionaire chooses tocampaignto see incentives for diesel use removed for the top 18 companies in mining and suggests that that money be directed to where Aussies need it most, we have to ask the question so many seem happy to overlook: Why?

Iron ore magnate Andrew Twiggy Forrest ison the record, his latest national advertising campaigndominating our television screens and airwaves, apparently wanting to help reduce Australias reliance on fossil fuels.

According to the Fortescue Holdingswebsite, the diesel tax refund should be capped at the paltry sum of just $50 million per company, because [IAemphasis]:

We hear you thinking, if Mr Forrest is so keen to help Australians with cost of living pressures, surely it would make more sense for his company not to claim $305 million (approx) each yearin the first place?Its not as though taking this obscene amount of money is compulsory.

Or, you know, Twiggy could contribute his companys fair share by using these rebates to pay for us all to unlock clean locally produced energy by installing solar power for everyone who doesnt have it, for example?

Perhaps ifForresthadn't, as Kristina Keneallywrotein 2017,'...demonstrated an aversion to paying tax':

So many options for someone with Mr Forrest's means.

Maybe we would believe this sudden commitment to the environment if Andrew hadnt actively and very publiclycampaignedalongside one-time mateand fellow billionaire, Gina Rinehart, to Axe the tax in 2010, causing the demise of the carbon tax and the fall of the Rudd/Gillard governments. If he and Gina and all their one percenter mates hadnt succeeded in doing away with thesensibleand equitablecarbon tax, we would arguably not be in a position where advocating for fossil fuel companies to contribute their fair share would even be necessary.

Possibly, if this billionaire with an estimated personal wealth of around $33 billion hadntopinedthat welfare spending was out of control, even though it wasnt. If only Twiggy hadnt then createda cashless "healthy" welfare card with Tony Abbott's blessing, known as theIndue card, to fix this imagined problem bycontrollingwhat the poor people could spend their money on, not allowing them to spend it on alcohol, cigarettes or gambling, but still allowing rich people like himself to spend on as much drinking and cavorting as their money could buy.

If only how Andy spent the tax rebates and assorted subsidies his companies received from taxpayer funds could likewise be controlled by taxpayers?

There are mining companies and then there are mining companies.

Perhaps if Andy hadntdisplacedtraditional owners to forge ahead with his own mining interests.

Then theres Forrests questionable green advocacy. Perhaps it would be more believable if he hadntsaidthe 2020 bushfire crisis wasn't caused by climate change.

Or if, though he announced a $70 million donation tobushfire recovery, only $10 million went to the victims.

AsGrant Turner wroteinIA:

It may be that Andrew "Twiggy" Forrestthe "philanthropist" has only one person's welfare in mind, writes Grant Turner.

Its also possible that if only one of the above facts were true, we might not be quite so cynical. However, the sheer weight of all these facts in their entirety makes it very difficult to believe his latest move is anything but self-serving.

Fortescue is still one of Australia's top corporate polluters, even in 2025, though it hasstatedit will:

If Fortescue manages to achieve this in any real sense and if it also inspires others, thenIndependent Australiawill be the first to applaud Andrew Forrest.

But the question remains. Why would Twiggy, a man with all he could wish for who can probably also give all of us all we could wish for and whose decidedly non-green or particularly philanthropic past points to a person happy with wealth never trickling down, suddenly wake up to the climate crisis and become a "green energy"advocate?

Beware billionaires bearing gifts.

The rich and powerful piss on us, and the media tell us its raining. That is the unfortunate truth about trickle-down economics, and never has it been more appropriate than right now, when the 'worldstop one per centown more wealth than 95 per centof humanity'.

The 2017 Rich List is out and no amount of "philanthropy" can disguise Australia's disproportionate wealth divisions.

This editorial wasoriginally publishedas part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter.Subscribeto IA to access all our work from as little as $1.15 per week and help power our journalism in 2026.

Follow managing editorMichelle Pinion [email protected] Independent Australia on [email protected], X/Twitter@independentausand FacebookHERE.

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