Simon Butler, Newcastle
Climate action group Rising Tide Newcastle held a protest rally outside the Hunter Street office of federal Labor MP Sharon Grierson on May 29 to condemn her for failing to oppose the new coal export terminal in Newcastle Harbour.
The group also protested against Grierson's failure to oppose coal company proposals associated with the new terminal, such as Centennial Coal's highly controversial Anvil Hill mine near the small Hunter Valley town of Denman, 150 kilometres north of Newcastle.
Rising Tide spokesperson Naomi Hodgson told Green Left Weekly that during an earlier meeting members of the group had with Grierson, the MP stated that she believed "the human species would send itself to extinction due to runaway climate change if we did not stop burning fossil fuels".
Despite this, Greirson ruled out opposition to the new coal export terminal, citing the short-term economic benefits and the "difficulties" in taking on the owners of the major Hunter Valley coal mines.
Almost all of the coal exported from the Hunter is produced from mines owned by just four corporations — AngloCoal, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata. Together, these companies control a third of world coal trade.
The protesters called upon Greirson to abandon her fatalistic attitude to climate change and back up her convictions with action.
"Newcastle needs a representative who will stand up for our town and defend us against the mindless profiteering of the coal companies", said Hodgson. "We need somebody who believes in a sustainable future for Newcastle and the Hunter — indeed for the planet — and who is willing to take steps to achieve it. We call on Sharon Grierson to act in the interests of our community's future."
With a loading capacity of 80 million tonnes of coal per year, Newcastle Harbour already exports more coal than any other port in the world and is the transit port for 50% of Australia's coal exports. When used to produce electricity, such an amount of coal adds about 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the Earth's atmosphere.
Rising Tide is organising more protest actions against climate change in the coming weeks. For more information visit <www.risingtide.org.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, June 7, 2006.
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