Monday afternoon the text came through: the Federal Court had upheld the Abbott Government’s environmental approval for the massive Carmichael mine. The court challenge, brought by our friends at the Australian Conservation Foundation, was defeated.
It’s times like this when our movement can be at its best. Within hours, snap rallies were called and preparations underway to shift anger into action, to shine a light for the Reef.
The message from the hundreds of people who gathered over the following two evenings in Brisbane and Melbourne was clear: we’re not going to sit down and let the Australian Government push big coal projects that threaten our Reef and our climate.
Led by our friends at the Australian Conservation Foundation, lanterns lit up the night and shone brightly for a healthy Reef.
Together, we’ve already made sure that 14 major international and Australian banks have kept their money out of the Carmichael project. Now we just need to hold strong and make sure it doesn’t get the billions of dollars it needs to go ahead. And that means we need to make sure the new government doesn’t sneak in and use the five billion dollar Northern Australia slush fund to pour taxpayers’ money into this disastrous project.
On Wednesday, we met the Energy and Environment Minister, Josh Frydenberg, to hand-deliver our petition for a coal-free future and a healthy Reef. Over 32,000 names calling for an end to Reef destruction and a huge Reef display on Parliament lawns. We made sure our new parliamentarians know that Australians care about our Reef and demand real action on climate change – now.
The Great Barrier Reef glowed in the dark on the lawn of Parliament House.
Thanks to people like you, we’ve put the Reef on top of Minister Frydenberg’s agenda. And we’ll continue to keep the Reef a priority for this government.
