AUSTRALIA’S ENVIRONMENT MINISTER GREG HUNT MUST REJECT ADANI’S COAL MINE AFTER POLLUTION DISASTER COVER-UP IN ZAMBIA
Melbourne 10 December, 2015 : GetUp! has today said Environment Minister Greg Hunt must immediately reject Adani’s disastrous coal mine and port expansion at Abbot Point, after revelations of failure by its executive to disclose previous environmental disasters, including a massive one in Zambia.
Campaigns Director Sam Regester said just yesterday Adani had been calling for the government to put them above the law to fast-track their mega-mine.
“Adani’s CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj was specifically asked to disclose this information. It is an offence to withhold it.
“This is not a small breach. This was a pollution disaster that rocked Zambia.
“The government needs to demand more. Not only have they failed to obtain the most basic of information, we’ve seen members of the government acting as Adani’s cheerleaders.
“The government has been parroting the lines of the company, including their inflated job figures and the dangerous suggestion that this expensive, polluting coal will somehow assist people in India.
“Well, there’s hundreds of thousands of people in Zambia whose river was poisoned and whose crops were devastated who could probably do with some assistance.
“We’ve heard members of the LNP say they are satisfied that our environmental laws would ensure similar disasters wouldn’t happen here. But we’re not even checking people’s record to see what they’ve done in the past. We’re cheering these dangerous and reckless companies on instead.
“Australians can now see clearly the risks this company presents if we allow them to mine and burn coal, dredge the Reef’s waters and allow hundreds more coal ships through the Reef.
“We just can’t trust Adani when they withhold the truth about the massive environmental disasters their executives have overseen,” said Mr Regester.
GetUp! members have made over 20,000 submissions to EIS processes for the Carmichael mine, and over 15,000 have chipped in to fund legal action against Adani, says a media release.
– 10 December.
