Conservation Action Network

The Conservation Action Network is one of the spin-off groups managed by the umbrella group Conservative Leadership Foundation, originally established by South Australian Liberal Party Senator Cory Bernardi. The CLF also runs other groups, including stopgillardscarbontax.com.

An article in The Age newspaper states: "While membership to CAN is free, the sites do ask for donations. In most cases, it is only when attempting to pay that subscribers can discover who the backer is. The websites do not declare that the South Australian senator is behind them, and the majority do not reveal that the money raised goes to either the Conservative Leadership Foundation or its think-tank Menzies House, which was also co-founded by Bernardi."

According to the article, Bernardi is also a supporter of the US Tea Party, and has on two occasions been paid to attend and speak at conferences hosted by the Heartland Institute.