It’s been over 24 hours since 10 activists locked on to a coal loader at Hay Point in Queensland. By dusk yesterday, four remained, suspended with safety equipment. When the sun rose this morning, the four were still there.
I spoke with one of them by phone at 7 am this morning.
So how are you going up there?
We’ve been here for 24 hours now and the team are starting to get a bit tired. We didn’t get much sleep overnight because the wind was relentless and it was freezing. But what an incredible way to wake up – Moon setting and sun rising! And its great to start warming up!
We’re hanging about 5 metres down from the cables and 10 metres from the top of the tower. We have a little device which keeps us attached. We have little hammocks to sleep in. You’ve gotta be comfortable.
So what’s for breakfast?
We’ve got muesli bars and some fruit. But I’m hanging out for a decent coffee!
And how long are you staying there?
We’ll stay here for as long as it takes for our Prime Minister to wake up to the reality that he can’t keep on expanding the coal industry and pretend to take action on climate change at the same time. We’re here in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Pacific who are on the frontline of climate change.
What is the view like?
To my right are atleast 30 coal ships, and the coal terminal itself is ahead of me. To my left is Queensland coastline … pretty nice. The sun has just peeked out.
Are the four of you close together?
Yeah, we’re only a couple of metres apart. And we’ve been speaking to each other to keep company and check that each of us is ok.
