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Invite to Wills MP Peter Khalil to oppose Adani coal mine

May 3, 2017 at 12:17 am John Englart 2 comments

Climate Action Moreland visited Wills MP Peter Khalil’s office today to deliver a letter inviting his public support for opposing the Adani coal mine. At the moment Westpac bank have anounced a more detailed policy on export coal in keeping with the Paris Agreement climate targets and transition to a zero carbon economy than both the Liberal National Party Government and the opposition Labor Party.

The Labor party needs to stop sitting on the fence and oppose the mine on both commercial and climate grounds.

Andrea reading the letter out

Dear Peter
Thank you for your letter of March 17, 2017, responding to concerns of Climate Action Moreland (CAM) about the proposed Adani mine project.

We understand that your main issue is that you believe that the Adani coal project should not receive support from the federal government for a rail line. CAM believes that this stance is not adequate. We hope that our local MP takes a firm stand against this project. We trust that as a signatory of the Climate Emergency Declaration you would be calling for emergency responses to the global climate crisis. This means a commitment to all means whereby the world can rapidly reduce its use of fossil fuels.

Opening any new coal mine, let alone a mega-mine, is totally at odds with this commitment.

Last week we saw Westpac Bank effectively rule out financing the Adani coal project. So now all of the big four banks have distanced themselves from this project.

We are concerned that the ALP, a party that claims it supports “real action on climate change”, supports a project that is intended to greatly increase Australia’s coal exports.

Adani’s current plans are to develop the Carmichael coal mine. The annual CO2 emissions from the Carmichael coal mine could be around 120 Megatonnes. These exported emissions from one coal mine correspond to over one-fifth of Australia’s annual domestic emissions. Moreover, if Carmichael goes ahead, that may help other coal mines in the Galilee Basin.

In other words, Labor supports Australia reducing its domestic emissions but apparently supports a huge increase in our exported emissions. Yet, the atmosphere is a global commons. We need to do everything we can to ensure that the whole world reduces its emissions.

We understand that Labor’s position on Adani may be shifting slightly. A few weeks ago, Bill Shorten was quoted as saying (7.30 Report 12 April 2017): “I support the Adani coal mine so long as it stacks up.”

On April 30 (on ABC Insiders), Mark Butler pointed out that the supposed new jobs will lead to job losses elsewhere: “It will simply displace existing coal operations elsewhere in Australia”. However, Mark Butler failed to discuss the impact of this coal project on climate change. On May 1, Bill Shorten affirmed his commitment to the project (The Guardian).

On Friday May 12 at 1pm, Moreland says #StopAdani are holding a rally outside the Coburg Branch of the Westpac Bank. We will be acknowledging that Westpac has made an important step in effectively ruling out the Adani coal project. We invite you to attend to talk with your constituents about the Adani project and how Australia can slash its coal exports as well as slash domestic emissions.

Kind regards

The team at Climate Action Moreland
Convenor: John Englart

Entry filed under: Adani, campaigns, Climate Emergency, coal export, Event, news, rallies & protests. Tags: Adani, Peter Khalil, StopAdani.