01/11/2019

Climate activists have gathered at the Townsville office of Adani contractor BMD, responding to today’s comments by Scott Morrison about political boycotts.

A group of 30 people demonstrated at the front of the construction company’s office, after yesterday stopping work for two hours at BMD’s worksite at Haughton River. They responded to Scott Morrison’s promise to the Queensland Resources Council today to outlaw secondary political boycotts.

Spokesperson Andy Paine said “Scott Morrison dining with his mates in the mining industry and promising them he will stamp out protest says everything you need to know about our government’s priorities in the face of a climate emergency. If we had a Prime Minister who actually cared for the wellbeing of Australian people and ecosystems, we wouldn’t need to be lobbying individual businesses to refuse work on Adani’s destrucive mine. It is the fact that our government is so pathetically in the pocket of the mining industry that means those who care about our climate have been forced to go to the corporate sector in search of someone with a conscience.”

Scott Morrison’s speech reportedly said he is “working to outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of Australians.”

Mr Paine said “if Scott Morrison cares about the livelihoods of Australians, especially those in rural areas, he should be developing a plan to transition away from fossil fuels and avert climate disaster. We will not be lectured about selfishness by someone who ignores the global pleas for Australia to take meaningful climate action and instead shamelessly lunches with the heads of mining companies intent on destroying the planet for their own profits. We will not sit by and watch this happen and we call on businesses like BMD to join us in taking a stand for our climate before it’s too late.