An 18-year-old climate activist from the Bega Valley has blocked trains loaded with coal from reaching a Queensland port owned by Indian mining giant Adani.
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For eight hours on Thursday, Hannah Doole was suspended 10metres above Newlands rail line to stop coal reaching the Abbot Point Coal Port before being taken into police custody.
Taking place outside the Queensland town of Bowen, the action was part of Front Line Action on Coal’s (FLAC) campaign to stop Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine and rail project, which Ms Doole said would be a “devastating thing for our world”.
“The Carmichael mine, it’s not huge in itself. But the expansion, the risk of expansion and the other mines that will build on from there is really enormous,” she said.
“And it’s a huge step for the fossil fuel industry. It’s really increasing and growing its power when it needs to die off; it needs to die off or we will.
“Coal is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and the CO2 in our atmosphere is cooking our planet.”
The major message the Doctor George Mountain resident wanted to get across was to act.
“Because the system isn’t going to help and we need to take it into our owns hands,” Ms Doole said.
A FLAC spokesperson said Adani intended to connect the Galilee Basin to the Newlands coal rail network.
“To open the Galilee Basin would be fundamentally at odds with protecting Australia from the impacts of climate change,” they said.
A spokesperson for Adani said the Carmichael Project had been granted approvals under seven different Commonwealth and Queensland Acts.
“One of the great things about living in Australia is our ability to express our opinions, provided we are doing so in a way that is safe, respectful, and legal and doesn’t put people or property in harm’s way,” they said.
“The Carmichael mine will be one of 125 operating mines in Australia and the first mine in the Galilee Basin.
“We have obtained 112 approvals for the project over eight years and have been successful in nine court challenges to reach this stage.”
A spokesperson for the Queensland police service said Ms Doole voluntarily came down from the tripod around 12.45pm on Thursday. Ms Doole received three charges - including trespass on a railway - which she plans to plead guilty to.