EXCLUSIVE



John Hewson has lashed senior government figures, including
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Education Minister Christopher Pyne, for
attempting to "bully and coerce" the Australian National University into
reversing its decision to dump investments in fossil fuel companies.




The former Liberal Party leader and former Liberal prime
minister Malcolm Fraser are among more than 50 prominent Australians and
ethical investors who have signed an open letter urging the Abbott
government to call off its crusade against ANU. 



Mr Hewson also demanded members of the government reveal who
had urged them to take a public stance against ANU's decision to divest
its shareholdings in seven Australian resources companies, including
Santos, Oil Search and Iluka Resources.




"For politicians to try to bully, coerce and influence this university is just outrageous," Mr Hewson said.



"The big story here is what got the politicians so stirred
up? Was it the Minerals Council? It virtually owned the previous
government and appears to have large influence over this one.



"I'm surprised the superannuation industry isn't up in arms
about government trying to tell institutions how they should invest.
What if the big super funds were told they should be investing 25 per
cent of their money into infrastructure, 30 per cent into government
projects?"



Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs last week
called ANU "reckless" and Mr Hockey claimed the university was "removed
from reality" for deciding to spurn companies that he said help drive
the Australian economy and create jobs.



On Monday, Mr Pyne called the divestment decision "bizarre"
and Prime Minister Tony Abbott accused the ANU of "unnecessary
posturing" and risking the returns to its $1 billion investment
portfolio by selling off resources stocks.



Environment Minister Greg Hunt has spoken against ANU and
novice Liberal senator James McGrath, a former employee of Santos, said
the university had denied the seven companies "natural justice" by
failing to engage them before blacklisting their shares.



"You have a publicly funded organisation that essentially has
chosen to blacklist companies without giving them the right of reply. I
think the university should be condemned," he told Fairfax Media.



On Wednesday, left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute
will publish an open letter that calls on the government to respect
ANU's right to invest in or divest from any investments that it chooses.



"We support the role of choice in the Australian economy and
cannot understand why a government that is committed to deregulating the
university sector would question the ability of a university to make
investment decisions," the letter states.



"It is every investor's right to make their own investment
decisions without bullying from vested interests and government
ministers. It is ANU's obligation to invest responsibly, which includes
thinking about their environmental social standards, how they impacts on
financial returns and how they reflect on the character of the
institution."



Among the people who have added their names to the letter are
Wotif founder Graeme Wood, former Greens leader Bob Brown and
philanthropist Rob Purves.



The group said ANU's approach to ethical investing was
consistent  with investors around the world, including the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund and Stanford University.



Mr Hewson said the response had been disproportionate to the
scale of the investment portfolio rejig by ANU. The shareholdings to be
liquidated are worth an estimated $16 million, representing less than 2
per cent of the university's $1.1 billion portfolio.



ANU vice-chancellor Professor Ian Young said it was worrying
that certain groups felt they had the right to "tell an investor how to
invest".



Tim Buckley, a former head of equity research at Citigroup
who now works at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial
Analysis, also accused the Coalition of attempting to bully ANU.



"I find it absolutely bizarre because, the last time I
checked, investment managers have the right to change their portfolios,"
he told Guardian Australia.



Santos vice-president for LNG markets and Eastern Australia
Commercial, Peter Cleary, questioned the sense of the divestment
movement's view that fossil fuels have no place in the future economy. 



"Our industry respects the challenge of minimising the impact
of our activities on the environment but we don't agree with the
extreme agenda that denies the continuing importance that energy plays
in supporting the everyday lives of Australia and Asia," he said.



"We face misleading and scaremongering campaigns. As an
industry, we must do all to inform our communities and to make sure the
debate is based on the strong science around the risks and about robust
economics when we look at the positive impacts on communities."



ANU is the first Australian university to divest from fossil
fuels, although it has retained shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. In
the US, 19 universities have sold out of fossil fuels investments,
including Stanford University, which has cleaned out its $US19 billion
($22 billion) investment fund.