Liberal Senator Alex Antic says corporates have been “weaponised” for a “bigger global push” for environmental, social, and corporate governance.

Woolworths Group, which also owns Big W, has said it will not be selling any special Australia Day merchandise in 2024.

“I think, ultimately, this comes from a bigger global push,” Mr Antic told Sky News Australia host Caleb Bond.

“We’re seeing this sort of language of ESG coming out of the World Economic Forum … the place where billionaires tell millionaires how to make the rest of us live.

“The corporate sector has now been weaponised for a greater push, a societal change push, where what we’re expecting out of corporates now is them telling us how to live.”

“Controlling the corporate sector is the way of the future, and until people push back on it until consumers show their displeasure as they did with Bud Light and as they did with Gillette prior to that … it’s going to continue.”