Stop Adani groups are rapidly springing up in cities and towns across northern Queensland, intent on helping the movement against the company’s Carmichael coalmine.
Campaign roadshows have been springboards, including in Townsville and Port Douglas, with others proposed for Gordonvale and the Atherton Tablelands.
In Cairns, activists’ work reached a new height with a rally of about 700 people on June 18. This was followed by banner drops and interventions when Sharon Warburton, the chairperson of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, the government fund considering lending $1billion to Adani for the mine’s rail line, spoke at the start of the Developing Northern Australia conference.
The demonstration, which on its march filled a city block, was a larger climate action than any other in Cairns in the last decade. The platform was jam packed. Among the nine speakers, traditional owners featured: Nerelle Nicol, a Juru woman whose traditional land includes the mine’s port site, Abbot Point, spoke after two from the Cairns region, Gudju Gudju, for Yidinji, and Gavin Singleton, for Yirrganydji. There were also half a dozen musical performances.
For a new organising group, this rally was a real success, coming in the face of the state Labor government’s backing for the mine. The wall of people around the campaign’s stall, signing up for further campaign information and action, was testament to the contribution the rally was making to the “building the movement” pillar of the campaign. Opportunities are wide open to show the broad opposition to the Adani Carmichael mine through rallies and public events throughout Australia.
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