- Phone banking, postering, stalls, TV and online ad campaigns + mobile billboards
- 18 November Great Big #StopAdani Brisbane Doorknock
- Election day turnout in marginal seats
Thursday 9 November, Queensland. The Stop Adani movement’s high profile presence in the Queensland election is set to intensify, with official launches in Brisbane and Mackay today to kick off an even more targeted effort in coming weeks right up until election day, with a focus on pressuring LNP leader Tim Nicholls to veto the $1 billion public loan to Adani and making sure all candidates reject Adani’s dirty mine.
Details below of the Mackay event, and the Brisbane “Launch & Fire Up!”, hosted by AYCC, Australian Marine Conservation Society, GetUp, ACF and Stop Adani Brisbane.
Basha Stasak, lead Stop Adani campaigner at the Australian Conservation Foundation said, “The Queensland election is on the frontline of climate change and ACF supporters will be having thousands of conversations with voters who do not want more pollution, their water poisoned, Queensland’s beautiful forests cleared and the Great Barrier Reef harmed.
“They want Tim Nicholls to veto the $1 billion loan to Adani’s dirty coal mine. They want all parties to reject Adani’s dirty coal mine and put a stop to more burning of coal. Whoever forms government in Queensland after this election must have a concrete plan to replace polluting coal and gas with clean energy from the sun and the wind.”
Ellen Roberts, Queensland Lead Organiser for GetUp, said, “GetUp members are primed and ready to take it to Adani this election.
“Our members will be holding phone banking parties, with the goal of making over 100,000 calls to the voters who will determine the future of Adani’s billion-dollar bailout. We’ll also be on the ground talking to people and going hard online with digital ads.
“This campaign is on a roll, with Queenslanders increasingly alarmed at government support for this backward looking coal project which will destroy our land, water, climate and Reef. We’re set on harnessing this concern in the lead up to the November 25 poll.”
Maggie McKeown, Community Organiser at the Mackay Conservation Group, said, “Mackay is abuzz with Adani talk and our campaign is gearing up at exactly the right time.
“Adani’s mine is on our doorstep and people here are taking notice of all the controversy the company has brought itself.
“Our work in the marginal Whitsunday/North Mackay seat will be critical. This electorate is the heart of the Reef and voters want to protect what they love and what supports their community”.
“We’ll be at markets, on the street knocking on doors and making phone calls across the region to make sure that people know just how damaging Adani’s mega-mine will be.”
Millie Anthony, QLD campaigner for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, said, “AYCC will be focussed on trailing candidates to highlight the Stop Adani message, doorknocking in Clayfield, talking to voters on their way to and from work and covering Brisbane with posters. Our mobile billboard will follow leaders on the campaign trail during the last two weeks of the election.
“Young people right across Queensland are tired of politicians who put their own political careers ahead of our future. That’s why we’re out and about taking on the major parties and their backward position on coal. We promise that everywhere the leaders are, we’ll be there calling on them to Stop Adani.”
Shannon Hurley, Fight For Our Reef Brisbane campaigner for the Australian Marine Conservation Society said, “Queenslanders are stepping up to ensure a $1 billion of public funds doesn’t get handed to Adani by the next state government to wreck our Reef.
“Thousands of our supporters are taking action to ask Tim Nicholls to veto the NAIF loan to Adani. We are calling on all parties to walk away from Adani’s dirty mine and to make sure whoever forms the next Queensland government commits to doing what it takes to save the Great Barrier Reef. People will flood the streets to doorknock to ensure Adani’s Reef wrecking mine is at the forefront of people’s minds come election day.”
Contacts for interview:
Ellen Roberts, GetUp: 0408 583 694
Millie Anthony, AYCC: 0439 419 684
Maggie McKeown, Mackay Conservation Group: 0434 837 774
Shannon Hurley, AMCS: 0433 481 346
Basha Stasak, ACF: 0437 242 950
LAUNCH DETAILS
Brisbane Launch & Fire Up!
WHEN: 6-8pm, Thursday 9 November
WHERE: Battery Station. Shop 1/608 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
Stop Adani Mackay Launch
WHEN: 4pm, Thursday 9 November
WHERE: Mackay Environment Centre, 156 Wood St
VISUALS: See Stop Adani Flickr library (here), incl. Brisbane Snap Action at Adani HQ on Election Announcement Eve (here). High quality images of 7 October Stop Adani National Day of Action (here) and drone footage and b-roll from the events (here).
BACKGROUND TO CAMPAIGN
The campaign to Stop Adani’s polluting coal mine continues to gather momentum – right across the country.
In just seven months, more than 160 local Stop Adani groups have formed across Australia. These groups are taking action in their communities – actively lobbying local Members of Parliament, holding public meetings, and spreading the word about why Adani’s coal mine should not proceed. So far, these local groups have so far organised over 700 events and activities in their communities.
The Stop Adani Alliance was launched in March 2017. The Alliance membership ranges from small local environment groups working to stop the project going ahead, through to national organisations leading campaigns to take action on climate change and major civil society groups.
The Alliance has more than doubled its membership in six months. It now has 31 member organisations, representing well over two million Australians.
In early October 2017, more than 20,000 Australians ran 60 events at the same time across Australia, spelling out ‘STOP ADANI’ with their bodies (see links to stills and vision above).