A packed meeting in Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria on March 21 was horrified as the implications of a planned mineral sands mine in the area were revealed.
The Kalbar Resources mine has been in the planning stage for several years and is due to start next year. The site is at Glenaladale, about 20 kilometres from Bairnsdale in grazing country, but only 350 metres from the $200 million a year vegetable growing industry in the Mitchell River Valley.
The Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) traditional owners of the land on which Adani has approval to build its Carmichael coalmine are concerned that the Queensland government will act to extinguish their native title rights prior to a Federal Court hearing scheduled for March 12鈥15.
This follows the decision by the Federal Court to not extend an interim injunction, which had been in place since December 18, restraining the Queensland government from extinguishing native title under the terms of the purported Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA).
A聽brand new World Bank聽, The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018,聽offers evidence of how much poorer Africa is becoming thanks to rampant minerals, oil and gas extraction.
Yet World Bank policies and practices remain oriented to enforcing foreign loan repayments and transnational corporate (TNC) profiteering 鈥 thus maintaining the looting.
In the first episode of Activist Stories we travel up to Canberra to join activists from around the country protesting against the Adani mega coal mine on the first day of parliament on February 5. We then look back at the campaign, the pressure mounting on Labor to oppose the mine and how you can get involved.
To get involved Stopadani.com Adani鈥檚 threat to Australia鈥檚 groundwater greenleft.org.au/content/adani-threat-great-artesian-basin
Keep up with me
Twitter: @zebparkes
Blog: zebedeeparkes.com
Insta: zebedeeparkes
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told the National Press Club in Canberra on January 30 that he had become increasingly sceptical of Adani鈥漵 Carmichael coalmine in recent months: 鈥淲e鈥檙e certainly looking at the Adani matter very closely,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f it doesn鈥檛 stack up commercially or if it doesn鈥檛 stack up environmentally it will absolutely not receive our support.鈥
Last year almost 90% of Queensland was drought declared. For farmers and graziers struggling for survival this meant increasing reliance on groundwater.
The South Australian government has begun a public consultation on whether to hold a trial of underground coal gasification (UCG). The practice was banned in Queensland after it caused 鈥渋rreversible鈥 damage to hundreds of square kilometres of valuable Darling Downs farming land.
The Traditional Owners of the Mount Jowlaenga area in Western Australia鈥檚 Kimberley have won an appeal in the Federal Court against miner Sheffield Resources and the West Australian government over one of the country鈥檚 biggest mineral sands deposits.
The win means the Traditional Owners have succeeded in preventing Sheffield Resources from constructing its multi-million dollar Thunderbird project on their land without having reached agreements with them in key areas, including compensation and the management of Aboriginal heritage sites.
The United States Senate passed a Bill on December 2 that will allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) 鈥 an area which has been protected since 1960. Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, managed to get a narrow 52-48 vote for the Bill 鈥 a part of the tax reform legislation 鈥 to pass.
The threatened 19.6-million acre refuge is located in northeastern Alaska and is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife, but also billions of barrels of crude oil underground.
A sleeper issue in the recent Queensland election was the inaction by mines minister Anthony Lynham on the Land Court鈥檚 ruling of May 31 to reject the application by New Hope Coal for the third stage in the expansion of the Acland coalmine, known as Acland Stage 3, in the agriculturally rich Darling Downs.
More than 60 Aboriginal community members from across the Northern Territory gathered on Larrakia Country in Darwin over November 18鈥19 to discuss how to stop fracking from destroying the Territory.
They came from Alice Springs, Borroloola, Mataranka, Minyerri, Maningrida, Marlinja, Tennant Creek, Yuendumu, Jilkminggan and Katherine to demand a permanent fracking ban, saying they fear for the future of their land and culture if the moratorium ends.
Activists from the Oakey Coal Action Alliance, Great Sandy Strait Saviours and Lock the Gate gathered in the park across the road from New Hope Coal鈥檚 AGM in Ipswich on November 16 with a message for shareholders.
Accompanied by a giant inflatable cow, the protesters鈥 message was that New Hope is wasting its money on legal battles and public relations campaigns.