North Queensland Conservation Council

Our biggest day yet to #StopAdani.

Sometimes you just need to spell it out for people.

The fate of Adani’s monstrous coal mine hangs on securing a one billion dollar government loan from our government. This is our moment to call out our political leaders for supporting this Reef-destroying, future destroying mine.

So we’re going to spell out the #StopAdani message loud and clear for our politicians.

As the sun sets on Saturday 7 October, thousands of Australians will have had the biggest day of action we’ve ever seen to stop Adani. We will create human signs so big that they can’t be ignored, at iconic locations across Australia and make no mistake the beach below the Rockpool, the Strand, Townsville with Magnetic Island in the background and our beloved Castle in the foreground is our icon.

With the creative team that brought you Heads in the Sand which went viral together with many of Townsville's leading singers we will create a massive human sign and sing our hearts out to the tune of the three line chorus of Let the Sun Shine In from the musical Hair. As a bonus, small, red and white cardboard placards will be available which we can hold to the sky as the drone flown camera captures our stop sign.

North Queensland Conservation Council today vowed to continue its fight to have the cumulative impacts of opening up the Galilee Basin to a clutch of new coal mines taken into account by having ‘Cumulative Impact Assessments’ thoroughly considered by governments charged with approving mining projects.

NQCC was an objector in the GVK Hancock Kevin’s Corner coal mine case in the Queensland Land Court. NQCC Coordinator Maree Dibella was speaking after learning of the decision to uphold approvals for a Mining Lease and an Environmental Authority for the project. Kevin’s Corner is a proposed 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) coal mine in the Galilee Basin that would cover over 37,000 hectares and be worked for 30 years (a period that the mining company defined as a ‘temporary interruption’ of other uses).

Welcome to the April issue of Paperbark. Our thoughts and well-wishes are with the communities to our south who felt the full force of Cyclone Debbie.

In this issue: Guarding the Galilee film screening – Special General Meeting – Stop Adani Alliance launched – Adani roadshow returns – Queensland Women’s Week event wrap up – Minister’s Environment Roundtable – upcoming local enviro events

Date savers (more details below)

27 April – “Guarding the Galilee” premiere documentary screening.
2 May – Special General Meeting regarding Port of Townsville expansion project campaign
12 May – ‘The Food We Eat: its impact on environments and bodies’ free public discussion

Today in Canberra, veteran environmentalist Bob Brown will join community leaders from around the country to launch the ‘Stop Adani Alliance’ and build the biggest movement in Australia’s history to stop Adani’s dangerous coal mine and end coal for good.

North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC) is a founding member of the Alliance.

NQCC co-ordinator Maree Dibella said, “It’s great to see people from around the country join our fight to stop the Adani’s mine from going ahead.  I know there is a lot of local support here in Townsville for this campaign, but I also know we can’t win this on our own.”

In an expected but infuriating and unreasonable move, the Queensland government yesterday approved an environmental authority (EA) for Adani in relation to what is being referred to as ‘the $16 billion Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project’. The obvious flaw in this title is, of course, that Adani does not have the $16 billion – and has precious little chance of raising it.

The EA is the second last legislative approval needed – the last being a mining lease. This will be approved (or not!) by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, the bailiwick of Dr Andrew Lytham. Minister Lytham has said that he is not interested in ‘fast-tracking’ the project (a request of Adani and Townsville Enterprise Limited, amongst others) and that it has to go through due process.

Fresh back from Paris, on Monday this week, Greg Hunt (again) gave his approval for the expansion of the Abbot Point port. The expansion would be necessary for what would be Australia’s largest coal mine, Adani’s Carmichael mine, to go ahead.  (Prize to anyone who can explain how those two fit together!)

To refresh memories in this complicated process, Minister Hunt’s first approval for the port expansion allowed the dredge spoil to be dumped in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – that was stymied by legal action by NQCC and ended up with a law banning spoil being dumped anywhere in the Marine Park.

Photo: Greg Keating

An estimated 600+ people marched on a hot Saturday afternoon in Townsville to join over 2300 such groups in 150+ countries calling on global leaders to take strong and effective climate action.

Between 19 and 30 October, NQCC was at the Land Court in Brisbane as an objector in the matter of Galilee Coal Pty Ltd v Bruce Bede Currie and others. Galilee Coal Pty Ltd is owned by the Indian GVK Group.

We were objecting to the approval of Galilee Coal’s Kevin’s Corner mine, 160 km west of Emerald in the Galilee Basin, by the Queensland Government. As a level 3 objector, NQCC was able to attend the hearing, give opening and closing addresses, call evidence, cross-examine witnesses and put in a final submission. Cross-examination of witnesses for NQCC was conducted by Kathryn Kelly, assisted by Wendy Tubman.