Australian Strategic Policy Institute: Difference between revisions
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The '''Australian Strategic Policy Institute''' ('''ASPI''') is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] think tank owned by the [[Australia|Australian]] government. It partnered with Twitter to delete 170,000 accounts that supported the [[Communist Party of China|CPC]] or criticized the [[United States of America|United States]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=[[Alan Macleod]]|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=ASPI – The Gov't-Funded Conspiracist Think Tank Now Controlling Your Social Media Feed|date=2022-01-20|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/aspi-think-tank-controlling-twitter/279490/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826100427/https://www.mintpressnews.com/aspi-think-tank-controlling-twitter/279490/|archive-date=2022-08-26|retrieved=2022-09-10}}</ref> | The '''Australian Strategic Policy Institute''' ('''ASPI''') is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] think tank owned by the [[Australia|Australian]] government. Members of the ASPI Council, its governing body, include current and former members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Australian Labor Party, Australian Army and weapons manufacturers notably, Dr Brendan Nelson current president of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, and chairman of the board for Boeing Australia Holdings.<ref>{{Citation|year=2022|title=Annual Report 2021-2022|title-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|chapter=Chapter 5: Corporate Governance|chapter-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf#ASPI%202405%20AR_21-22_text_acc.indd%3A.133554%3A55778|section=Current Council Members|page=70-78|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126083643/https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref> | ||
== Impact == | |||
It partnered with Twitter to delete 170,000 accounts that supported the [[Communist Party of China|CPC]] or criticized the [[United States of America|United States]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=[[Alan Macleod]]|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=ASPI – The Gov't-Funded Conspiracist Think Tank Now Controlling Your Social Media Feed|date=2022-01-20|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/aspi-think-tank-controlling-twitter/279490/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826100427/https://www.mintpressnews.com/aspi-think-tank-controlling-twitter/279490/|archive-date=2022-08-26|retrieved=2022-09-10}}</ref> | |||
== Funding == | == Funding == | ||
The ASPI receives | The ASPI receives 32% of its funding from the Australian government but also receives $700,000 per year from the [[United States Department of Defense|Pentagon]] and $430,000 from the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]]. ASPI's current grant from the Australian Government Department of Defence provides 20 million AUD over 5 financial years from 2018-2023.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Department of Defence|newspaper=ASPI|title=Commonwealth Grant Agreement|date=2018-06-30|url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2020-01/ASPI-Defence%20Funding%20Agreement_31-August-2018-redacted.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018031232/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2020-01/ASPI-Defence%20Funding%20Agreement_31-August-2018-redacted.pdf|archive-date=2023-01-21|retrieved=2023-01-21}}</ref> | ||
Since initial formation in 2001 funding from the Australian Government as a proportion of ASPI's total income has fallen from 100% to 32%. It now receives the bulk of it total revenue from corporate sponsorships.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|year=2022|title=Annual Report 2021-2022|title-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|chapter=Chapter 1: Overview|chapter-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf#ASPI%202405%20AR_21-22_text_acc.indd%3A.133516%3A55759|section=Funding|page=19-21|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126083643/https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref> Funding for the 2021-2022 FY totalled 12,465,475 AUD.<ref>{{Citation|year=2022|title=Annual Report 2021-2022|title-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|chapter=Annexes|chapter-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf#ASPI%202405%20AR_21-22_text_acc.indd%3A.133566%3A55784|section=Annex H|page=137|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126083643/https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-12/ASPI%20Annual%20Report%202021-2022.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref> | |||
ASPI's sponsorships include weapons manufactures Boeing Australia, Lockheed Martin, Jacobs Engineering Group, Leidos and Saab Australia, and cybersecurity companies Thales, UpGuard, Macquarie Telecom Group, Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, Palo Alto Networks, Quintessence Labs, Splunk Technology and Senetas Corporation. It also receives donations from tech-giants [[Google Inc.|Google]], [[Microsoft Corporation|Microsoft]], [[Meta Platforms, Inc.|Facebook]], [[Twitter]] and Amazon Web Services. ASPI also accepts funding from foreign governments including the governments of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|UK]], [[Canada]], [[Japan]], and the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]].<ref name=":0" /> Political groups, lobbying groups and other think tanks such as Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia and the Center for Strategic and International Studies also provide sponsorships.<ref name=":1" /> | |||
On the 13th of July, 2022 ASPI opened an additional office in Washington DC with the aim of "becoming a more active participant in the lively Washington DC think tank debate about defence and national security."<ref>{{Citation|year=2022|title=Corporate plan 2022-2026|title-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-11/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202022-2026.pdf|chapter=ASPI Washington DC office|chapter-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-11/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202022-2026.pdf#Corporate%20plan%202022%20to%202026.indd%3A.16764%3A1031|page=17|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126090140/https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-11/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202022-2026.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation|year=2021|title=Corporate plan 2021-2025|title-url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2021-09/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202021-2025.pdf|chapter=ASPI's Washington DC office|chapter-url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2021-09/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202021-2025.pdf#Corporate%20plan%202021%20to%202025%20%282%29.indd%3A.15274%3A901|page=19-20|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126090712/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2021-09/ASPI%20Corporate%20plan%202021-2025.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref> | |||
For the formation of this Office the Australian Government granted an additional 5 million AUD transferred to ASPI on the 5th of June, 2021.<ref>{{Citation|year=2021|title=Annual Report 2020-2021|title-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-02/ASPI%20Annual-Report_2020-2021.pdf|chapter=Chapter 1 Overview|chapter-url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-02/ASPI%20Annual-Report_2020-2021.pdf#ASPI%20AR_20_21_text_acc.indd%3A.119764%3A55578|section=Funding|page=22|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126091345/https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2022-02/ASPI%20Annual-Report_2020-2021.pdf|city=Australia|publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}</ref> | |||
ASPI | The goals of the DC Office are to advocate for Australia to play a more fundamental role in US interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Notable "key purposes" ASPI describes include, "[to] lift the profile of strategic regions and issues of vital interest to Australia but currently under-done in the Washington think tank community. This includes Southeast Asia, the Pacific Island Countries, and the Indian Ocean region." and "[to] Ensure Australian interests are built in to emerging US policy thinking and initiatives, instead of having Australian interest reverse engineered into more mature US plans."<ref name=":2" /> | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
[[Category:Imperialist organizations]] | [[Category:Imperialist organizations]] | ||
[[Category:CIA front groups]] | [[Category:CIA front groups]] | ||
Revision as of 09:20, 26 January 2023
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is an imperialist think tank owned by the Australian government. Members of the ASPI Council, its governing body, include current and former members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Australian Labor Party, Australian Army and weapons manufacturers notably, Dr Brendan Nelson current president of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, and chairman of the board for Boeing Australia Holdings.[1]
Impact
It partnered with Twitter to delete 170,000 accounts that supported the CPC or criticized the United States.[2]
Funding
The ASPI receives 32% of its funding from the Australian government but also receives $700,000 per year from the Pentagon and $430,000 from the U.S. State Department. ASPI's current grant from the Australian Government Department of Defence provides 20 million AUD over 5 financial years from 2018-2023.[3]
Since initial formation in 2001 funding from the Australian Government as a proportion of ASPI's total income has fallen from 100% to 32%. It now receives the bulk of it total revenue from corporate sponsorships.[4] Funding for the 2021-2022 FY totalled 12,465,475 AUD.[5]
ASPI's sponsorships include weapons manufactures Boeing Australia, Lockheed Martin, Jacobs Engineering Group, Leidos and Saab Australia, and cybersecurity companies Thales, UpGuard, Macquarie Telecom Group, Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, Palo Alto Networks, Quintessence Labs, Splunk Technology and Senetas Corporation. It also receives donations from tech-giants Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon Web Services. ASPI also accepts funding from foreign governments including the governments of the UK, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands.[2] Political groups, lobbying groups and other think tanks such as Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia and the Center for Strategic and International Studies also provide sponsorships.[4]
On the 13th of July, 2022 ASPI opened an additional office in Washington DC with the aim of "becoming a more active participant in the lively Washington DC think tank debate about defence and national security."[6][7]
For the formation of this Office the Australian Government granted an additional 5 million AUD transferred to ASPI on the 5th of June, 2021.[8]
The goals of the DC Office are to advocate for Australia to play a more fundamental role in US interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Notable "key purposes" ASPI describes include, "[to] lift the profile of strategic regions and issues of vital interest to Australia but currently under-done in the Washington think tank community. This includes Southeast Asia, the Pacific Island Countries, and the Indian Ocean region." and "[to] Ensure Australian interests are built in to emerging US policy thinking and initiatives, instead of having Australian interest reverse engineered into more mature US plans."[7]
References
- ↑ Annual Report 2021-2022: 'Chapter 5: Corporate Governance; Current Council Members' (2022) (pp. 70-78). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alan Macleod (2022-01-20). "ASPI – The Gov't-Funded Conspiracist Think Tank Now Controlling Your Social Media Feed" MintPress News. Archived from the original on 2022-08-26. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
- ↑ Department of Defence (2018-06-30). "Commonwealth Grant Agreement" ASPI. Archived from the original on 2023-01-21. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Annual Report 2021-2022: 'Chapter 1: Overview; Funding' (2022) (pp. 19-21). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- ↑ Annual Report 2021-2022: 'Annexes; Annex H' (2022) (p. 137). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- ↑ Corporate plan 2022-2026: 'ASPI Washington DC office' (2022) (p. 17). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Corporate plan 2021-2025: 'ASPI's Washington DC office' (2021) (pp. 19-20). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- ↑ Annual Report 2020-2021: 'Chapter 1 Overview; Funding' (2021) (p. 22). [PDF] Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute.