The Australian Marine Conservation Society has launched a mobile billboard during the Commonwealth games calling on the Australian government not to give special treatment via taxpayer dollars to the mining billionaire Adani.
The billboard is in response to the news that Adani is in talks with Trade Minister Steven Ciobo and the Government agency EFIC (the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation) to use taxpayer money for their coal supply chain.1 The billboard is backed up with a petition to Trade Minister Steven Ciobo urging him to rule out taxpayers money flowing to Adani from EFIC.
Imogen Zethoven AO, Fight For Our Reef campaign director said:
“The Gold Coast is Minister Steven Ciobo’s home electorate so we’re going to put this message on the road, right in front of him while the world is watching.
“Due to the impacts of global warming, our Reef is under more pressure than ever after back-to-back mass coral bleaching events. And yet, in the midst of the greatest crisis our Reef has ever faced, our government is risking its future by continuing to help this polluting coal giant.
“Its baffling why the Government continues to seek ways to support this project with public funds. Seven out of ten Queenslanders believe Adani should fund its own project rather than expect a taxpayer subsidy for its environmentally destructive and economically unviable coal mine. In short: the public do not want their taxpayer dollars to go to this mine.
“The Federal government is responsible for protecting the outstanding universal value of the Reef. To protect the Reef, the government needs to rule out any taxpayer funding via EFIC to Adani, revoke the environmental approval of the Carmichael mine and rapidly move away from coal to renewables in order to relieve pressure on our Reef,” said Zethoven.
ENDS
To arrange interviews with Imogen Zethoven, AO, contact: Shane Cucow, Senior Communications Strategist, 0423 544 979.
High resolution images of Billboard are available on the AMCS Flickr account
