Marcus May
Our regular correspondent, Marcus May, provides the first instalment in a series of articles on who we are up against in our quest to support and strengthen the ABC.
Back in the year 2020, in response to questions from ABC supporters, “Who or what is the IPA, and why does it want to destroy the ABC?” ABC Friends produced an article that delved deeply into the Institute for Public Affairs (IPA), its history, objectives and associates.
The IPA has consistently and publicly called for the destruction of the ABC public broadcaster, for it to be broken up and the parts sold off to private enterprise and even published a book (Against Public Broadcasting) devoted to this objective.
In 2020, the Australian Prime Minister, Treasurer, Finance Minister, Speaker in the House and another eight Federal Ministers were members of the IPA and/or its affiliates.
The ABCF article on the IPA was long (30 pages) and perhaps boringly detailed, but it did reveal that the IPA was not alone in its free market, “libertarian” and conservative ideological objectives, including anti-public broadcasting. Rather, it was connected to global networks of organisations all working together to promote this common ideology world-wide. The relationships between these organisations and networks were not then apparent to any casual observer.
Today in 2025, the engagement and impact of these networks is getting more attention, internationally and here in Australia, as the effect of Trumpist style policies are evaluated.
So, who and what are these organisations and networks, and what are they trying to do? This article focuses on the Atlas Network.
The Atlas Network
The Atlas Network is a non-profit organization that provides training, networking, and grants to a global network of think tanks and civil organizations that align with free-market, libertarian, and conservative ideologies.
Founded in 1981 by Antony Fisher, it's headquartered in Washington D.C. and receives funding from wealthy individuals and foundations (like Koch Brothers). The organization aims to promote free markets and limited government worldwide via more than 500 “free market” organizations in nearly 100 countries.
The IPA, AIP (Institute for Progress) and Advance are among Australian members of the “Global Atlas Network” (see www.atlasnetwork.org)
If you were to look at the Atlas network’s webpages you would see explanations of its ‘non-partisan’ objectives and activity that perhaps sound quite innocent.
Our initiatives in Asia & Oceania does not engage in partisan politics. Our focus is on building a long-term consensus around the principles that foster peace and prosperity, with the sincere hope that such a future will see “less at stake” in individual elections, because all parties will be respectful of fundamental freedoms.
Almost “woke” isn’t it? But that is rose coloured nonsense. The Atlas network’s central objective is to move/change public opinion so that it aligns with the Network’s opinion – that private enterprise must be unencumbered in pursuit of its profits by any annoying hurdles, like public health, the environment or social responsibilities.
In our part of the world, Atlas has been heavily reported to be active in defending and supporting the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, decrying the wind and solar renewables movements, and involved in the recent Voice referendum and the New Zealand attempts to change the Waitangi Treaty.
Dr Jeremy Walker, of the University of Technology Sydney, has researched the systematic efforts to influence public opinion and government policy to defeat effective climate policy: that is, to reduce fossil fuel industry, extraction and combustion to zero, and replace all energy use with zero-combustion, zero emissions sources. Key to this is an international network of ‘free market think tanks’ assembled by neoliberal economists, activists, politicians, media organisations and big business funders.
Why, as ABC Friends, should we be specifically concerned about the Atlas Network activities?
Well, in promoting its objectives via training programs, networking opportunities, and financial grants to its network of think tanks and civil organisations, Atlas doesn’t want any independent opinions or views to disrupt its education of the public opinion. So, it doesn’t like public broadcasting, and it doesn’t like those irritating universities providing educational courses that conflict with the Atlas view of the world.
Atlas tries to minimise the effect of public broadcasting and government run universities by the power of money, money to influence the direction of politicians and university boards.
Dr Walker has reviewed Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s flagship election campaign promises: to use public finances to build ‘clean and cheap’ nuclear power stations across the nation, and to scrap offshore windfarm projects in Port Stephens, Illawarra (NSW), the Southern Ocean (Vic) and Geographe Bay (WA). In each case these announcements were preceded by highly sophisticated, disinformation campaigns involving individuals and organisations long associated with Australian and US Atlas think tanks and accompanied by a swarm of ostensibly ‘community based’ campaign websites, often with anonymous membership and always without declaring funding.
You may also have noticed the Liberal opposition’s distaste for the ABC during the election campaign, and been concerned at the prospect of the ABC’s future under a Coalition government led by Dutton.
The Trump administration in the USA, whose ideologies are so clearly aligned with those of the Atlas network, is currently, as you read this article, actively dismantling American public broadcasting.
Clearly, a similar threat to the ABC here is very possible, even from a weakened opposition. Atlas is not going away.
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