Protesters blocked entry to the work site for Adani’s controversial Carmichael coalmine, in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland, for several hours on September 18.
Coral Wynter, who had joined the blockade from Sydney, told Green Left Weekly: “We blocked three gates of Adani’s workers’ camp for four hours, preventing several trucks from entering and leaving the site.”
“We waited at the gates until police arrived and ordered us to move. Protesters of all ages and from around the country came to the Galilee Basin — the front line of the fight.
“Our action followed other protests over the past few days, including blockades of factories in Townsville supplying pipes to the Carmichael mine.
“In one site, a truck driver tried to run down a protester outside the gates.”
Asked about the protest’s effectiveness, Wynter said they had been “very successful in drawing attention to the need to stop Adani, and other new coalmines, from going ahead”.
Taking a stand “is vital”, she said, “especially knowing that we are part of a global movement to tackle climate change”.
Frontline Action on Coal, which organised the blockade, has called on people to take action to stop Adani’s mine going ahead.
Orien Humennyj-Jameson, a 29-year-old musician and biology teacher from Melbourne, said: “To create meaningful change is possible but it will require us to inconvenience our own lives and take actions like this.”
Kylie Riha-Jones, a 52-year-old health worker and mother of two from Melbourne, said: “The health effects of climate change will take a massive toll on humans and other animals.
“The Australian Medical Association has declared a climate emergency, and yet Australia is opening up one of the world’s biggest coal reserves.”
Jasmyn Sheppard, a 33-year-old First Nations community organiser based in Meanjin (Brisbane), said the Queensland government is hypocritical for talking about sustainability and treaty while giving the green light to Adani’s mine.
Sheppard said: “I’ve been part of community groups [opposing the mine] and lobbying the political system, but it’s not enough. To continue the pressure means going to the frontline of destructive projects like Adani’s mine.”