MR CAMPBELL ANDERSON has been found to not be a fit and proper person to be head of Australia's peak natural resource and environmental management movement, due to his unethical corporate behaviour.

Chairman of the board since 2012, Campbell Anderson has an extensive career serving the fossil fuel industry, including managing director of Burmah Oil in the late 1980’s where he did deals with and on behalf of joint owner, convicted fraudster and conman, Alan Bond. Anderson was the Former Chairman of ERA, where he was responsible for the controversial Ranger and Jabiluka uranium mine developments in the 1990’s that still threaten the world heritage status of Kakadu National Park today. He was CEO of North Ltd from 1993-1998. North Ltd was one of Landcare’s largest corporate sponsors during the 1990’s. North Ltd operated the world’s largest native forest wood-chipping export business based in Tasmania before it was sold to Gunns Pty Ltd in 2001. Anderson’s colleague, and Chairman of North Ltd, Michael Deeley was also managing director of ICI before it changed it’s name to Orica, also responsible for multiple breaches of enviornmental protection laws.

Anderson has been an Independent director of Clough Limited since September, 2003, providing engineering, procurement and construction services to the Coal Seam Gas industry via its subsidiaries Clough Seam Gas and E2O Pty Ltd. It’s clients include former Landcare Australia corporate partners Santos and Origin Energy. Clough also operates an $80 million 50/50 joint venture with Transfield services constructing QGC Pty Ltd’s Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas Project. (QCLNGP) The Clough joint venture partners working on coal seam gas projects near Gladstone (Queensland) include Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas (which recently bulldozed a 500km trail of destruction through rainforest to build a gas pipeline between Sabah and Sarawak, against the wishes of indigenous land-owners); French owned Total (which was banned from fracking for shale gas in France and had it’s exploration licences cancelled by the French government in 2011); and Korean state owned Kogas (accused of contributing to human rights violations and environmental destruction of sensitive ecological areas during the construction of gas pipelines in Myanmar).

Clough Limited also partners with Arrow Energy and plans to open coal seam gas wells on the Darling Downs and Cecil Plains cropping districts of NSW. Arrow is jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Petro China (owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which was suspended from exploration and drilling activities in Chad due to environmental violations, accused of failing to conduct environmental impact assessments on gas-pipeline construction in Tibet, barred from commencing new projects by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection for violating pollution laws in 2013, and accused of supporting human rights abuses in Tibet, East Turkestan and Sudan.

Anderson was chairman of the failed shale oil gas company Southern Pacific Petroleum (SPP) which collapsed in 2003 along with the loss of $40million in tax-payer funds. Toxic dioxin emissions from SPP’s refineries were blamed for affecting the health of nearby communities and potentially affecting the Great Barrier Reef.

Anderson is on the board of Macquarie Bank’s Venture capital arm Macquarie Direct Investment, founder and major shareholder of coal seam gas company CH4 Limited, which merged with Arrow Engergy in 2006. Co-founder of CH4, David Wrench, is now the managing director of coal seam gas producer Strike Engery which is financed by Orica to commercialise it’s coal seam gas business in a deal worth more than $52.5 million. Macquarie Bank is accused by receivers Kordamentha of misleading and deceptive conduct during it’s bid to seize control of failed timber company Gunns.

Anderson has previously been president of the Minerals Council of Australia, which is closely aligned to Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association Ltd (APPEA). Both organisations advocate in favour of and lobby on behalf of the coal seam gas industries. The minerals council of Australia recently made a submission to the Victorian Government’s Gas Taskforce stating that Environmental Impact Assessments for coal seam gas projects would be an “unnecessary and excessive regulatory burden on exploration projects”.

“We have to be aware of the possibility that some might want to partner with Landcare in order to greenwash what might otherwise be bad corporate behaviour.” Chair of Landcare Australia Limited, Mr Campbell Anderson (Landcare in Focus November 2012, page 12).