• Sea Shepherd joins #StopAdani Alliance
• Launch of Qld Big Day of Action on 7 Oct, with human signs in Brisbane and beyond

Brisbane, Australia, 10 September. Participants at a sold out Brisbane Summit of over 180 local volunteers, campaigning to stop the Adani coal mine, have called on the Federal and Queensland governments to say no a $1 billion loan of public money to the miner, and launched a National Day of Action on 7 October.

Sea Shepherd is one of 29 organisations to have joined the Stop Adani Alliance since its launch in March 2017, with the Alliance now representing well over 2 million Australians. In just five months, more than 160 Stop Adani groups have sprung into action around the country, organising 662 local actions at MP’s offices, bank branches and community events.

Larissa Baldwin, National Co-director of the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network said: “Our mob will not stand by and let the Queensland government or Adani determine our future.

“We will be fighting hard to protect country from being devastated by Adani’s mine.

 “Young Indigenous people know that climate change is an enormous threat to our people and land. It’s time to draw a line in the sand and reject any proposal for new coal mines”.  

Amy Butler from Sea Shepherd Australia said, “With Adani declaring that work may begin as soon as October, the stakes of this campaign have never been clearer.  Sea Shepherd Australia is proud to join the Stop Adani Alliance.  

 “The movement that is coming together to challenge Adani’s plans is growing by the week - here in Queensland, and right across the country.

 “Sea Shepherd was motivated to join this fight because of the terrifying havoc global warming is wreaking on our oceans and marine life.  We need look no further than the devastation of the bleaching of our Great Barrier Reef.  To protect the oceans, we must act on global warming - that means we must stop Adani.

“We are now gearing up for a big day of community action on October 7. We are going to spell it out to politicians - by forming massive Stop Adani human signs  - right here in Brisbane, and from Bondi Beach to the Whitsundays: "Stop Adani”.

Laura Harland, a volunteer on the campaign and local student from QUT, attending the Summit, said “As a young person, I’m here to make sure we act now to ensure the Great Barrier Reef has a healthy future.  A business as usual approach - including building new coal mines - - just isn’t good enough if we’re serious about protecting the Reef.

“It’s outrageous that state and federal governments are looking to bankroll this project with our money, via a $1 billion NAIF loan and special royalty deals.

“The latest polling shows three quarters of Australians do not want the $1 billion public loan to go ahead, and instead believe that Adani should fund their own infrastructure”.

BACKGROUND

The Stop Adani movement is now a powerful social movement. 160 local Stop Adani groups have formed, organising over 662 community actions including more than 300 screenings of the documentary ‘Guarding the Galilee’.  29 organisations have joined the Stop Adani Alliance since March, representing more than 2 million Australians.

Despite Adani pushing hard and winning unprecedented political support for their project, the Stop Adani movement has so far managed to hold them back. The mine is not yet built and Adani still do not have the consent of the Traditional Owners of the proposed mine site.

 Adani is yet to secure the finance they need. 24 financial institutions across the world have ruled out funding the mine. The movement already has two major wins under its belt: both Westpac and CommBank have ruled out funding Adani due to community pressure, meaning that all big four banks have now said no to the mine.

Now the campaign is setting its sights on the Federal and Queensland governments - both back a very unpopular $1B loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility.