Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change

Protest at Coburg Tradelink Plumbing: a local link to Adani coal mine

October 21, 2019 at 11:04 am John Englart Leave a comment

Protesting Adani at Tradelink Coburg

On Saturday Climate Action Moreland participated in an action outside Tradelink Plumbing Supplies in Sussex Street, Coburg. It was one of at least 25 protests around Australia tyargeting Tradelink. Tradelink is owned by Fletcher Building, a New Zealand multinational which is seeking contracts to supply materials for construction of the Adani Carmichael coal mine.

We were encouraging customers to boycott the store in future. When we arrived we went inside and spoke briefly to the staff and gave them information on our protest, and urged them to pass our message up the line.

Tradelink were aware in advance of our protest and had a security guard in their Coburg store. We were told they had no deliveries due on Saturday. During our stay outside there were no customers for the store.

We had a number of families with children attend.

Reports from other locations advise that protests included families with young children through to 97yo Kokoda veteran Bill Ryan. Tradelink hired security at most stores, with police attending 2 stores.

Convenor of Climate Action Moreland John Englart said: “The Adani mine and the climate chaos it will produce touches everyone, whether in a city like Melbourne or the outback which is experiencing one of the worst droughts on record, at least partly driven by global heating enhanced by burning coal and fossil fuels”

“There should be no new coal mines developed. We need to phase out coal. In Victoria we need to stop exploring for gas. We have no time to spare to make the transition as fast as possible to a 100 per cent renewables grid and a zero carbon economy well before 2050.”

“We need to question the ethics of businesses such as Fletcher building, and urge people to boycott their subsidiary businesses such as Tradelink Plumbing supplies.” said Englart

Ben Pennings, spokesperson for Galilee Blockade, said:

“Thermal coal will become the asbestos of the future. Most Australians do not want the Adani coal mine and we call on them to boycott Tradelink until store owners Fletcher Building get out of bed with Adani.”

“Every single company with a retail brand, including banks and insurance companies, have listened to the public and dumped Adani. Industrial contractors have retail brands too. Fletcher Building want to provide key construction materials for Adani but risk the reputation of their brands like Tradelink and Laminex.”

Entry filed under: Adani, campaigns, media release, news, rallies & protests. Tags: Fletcher Building, Galilee Blockade, StopAdani, Tradelink.