Led by Aunty Carol Prior, a Juru elder and traditional custodian of the Abbot Point area, dozens of people have risked arrest by walking onto the Abbot Point Coal Terminal lands to deliver their pledge of commitment to protect the Great Barrier Reef and global climate by preventing the Abbot Point coal port from going ahead. In a powerful escalation of the global campaign against Indian mining company Adani’s proposed Abbot Point and Galilee Basin coal projects, over 120 people have today peacefully protested at the Abbot Point port.

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As the UN World Heritage Committee prepares to meet in Bonn next week to discuss threats to the Reef, this protest shows the depth of community concern over Adani’s plans to dig up the coal reserves of the Galilee Basin and construct a massive new coal export port at Abbot Point in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

‘We are parents, and grandparents, tourism operators and farmers, traditional owners and conservationists from all parts of Australia,’ said Sandra Williams, Airlie Beach resident. ‘The community is saying no to this project. Not here, not now, not ever,’ said Williams.

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The protest foreshadows a sustained campaign of civil disobedience against construction of the controversial project which has already been ranked as having the third highest reputation risk of any project on the planet.

‘We are standing together, united as one, to protect Mother Earth. Mother Earth – our environment – is my culture, my heritage, and my Aboriginality,’ said Juru elder, Aunty Carol Prior.

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‘We’re here today standing up for the future of the Great Barrier Reef, and a safe climate future for our grandchildren,’ said Williams.

‘I’ve worked in the Whitsunday tourism industry for twenty years. A vibrant tourism industry depends on a vibrant Reef. The Reef is suffering irreparable damage created by coastal industrialisation, including ports, and by climate change from increasing coal use.

The Queensland government is currently preparing to submit the controversial dredging project to the Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt for approval.

‘We want to see investment in a positive future for our region, in job-rich renewables and a healthy and sustainable tourism industry instead of this project.

‘Adani has repeatedly overstated the local economic benefits of the project and exaggerated jobs figures by eightfold. We’ll be left to deal with the damage while Adani’s short-lived profits flow offshore.

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Eleven international banks have refused to fund the project whilst over three million people around the world have opposed it including a petition of 670,000 people delivered to the US Export Import Bank in Washington DC last week. Today’s action comes just days after Pope Francis delivered his ground breaking encyclical on the environment, calling for an urgent shift away from fossil fuels.

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