The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe recently won a major legal victory in federal court which may have the power to force the shutdown of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline.
Mining
Many environmentalists were disappointed, if not outraged, at Chief Scientist Alan Finkel鈥檚 Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, released on June 9, which sought to stabilise the existing electricity market.
At the same time, the failure of the privatised and deregulated electricity grid led NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham to call for its nationalisation as the only way to solve its intractable problems.
The Adani company claims that a in the Carmichael coal mine has been made. However, campaigners have dismissed this announcement as a stunt and vowed the mine will never come into production.
Blair Palese of 350 Australia wrote to supporters on June 6: "We want to tell [Adani] that we are more committed than ever to STOP this project and ensure that sanity prevails by making sure this climate bomb never sees the light of day."
Local farmers and community members joined representatives of the Oakey Coal Action Alliance and their legal team from the Environment Defenders Office (EDO) outside the Queensland Land Court on May 31.
They were celebrating a resounding victory in their case against the expansion of the New Acland coalmine in the rich farmlands of the Darling Downs.
For the briefest of moments 鈥 and to everyone's great surprise 鈥 it seemed like the Queensland government was finally going to do one thing right in relation to the Adani coalmine.
Two hundred people came from as far away as Gympie, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba to join a Thursday morning protest outside Queensland parliament. The protest was against the proposed Adani coal mine in the Galilee basin.
It is rare to see such a powerful film as Brendan Shoebridge鈥檚聽The Bentley Effect, which focuses on the successful struggle by Northern Rivers communities to save their land and water from the coal seam gas juggernaut at Bentley, near Lismore, in New South Wales.
The power of community is often talked about, but this film shows how it actually happened, in a powerful tale of political awakening among several generations.
Labor has backed away from supporting Adani鈥檚 proposed Carmichael coalmine. Previously, Labor leader Bill Shorten said he supported the project 鈥渟o long as it stacks up鈥.
But on May 1, Labor鈥檚 energy and environment spokesperson Mark Butler warned it could hurt other coalmining areas. 鈥淚t will simply displace existing coal operations elsewhere in Australia,鈥 he told ABC News. 鈥淭here will be jobs lost elsewhere in Queensland or there will be jobs lost in the Hunter Valley.
When the Nationals visited Narrabri on May 12 for dinner and talks, many in the community lined the entrance to voice their opposition to coal seam gas (CSG). NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro did not receive the welcome he expected.
"Hopefully he takes the message into the event that the electorate does not want this industry to take hold," said Narrabri farmer Stuart Murray.
Say what you will about the members of the Coalition government, but they have principles and they stick to them. In particular, the principle of working to destroy this godforsaken Hellhole of a planet as rapidly as humanly possible.
And so when, amid a growing campaign against Adani鈥檚 proposed Carmichael coalmine in Queensland, Westpac ruled out funding the mega-mine project, federal resources minister Matt Canavan did not hold back.
Australia is the most urbanised country on earth. Almost 90% of Australians live in urban areas, while rural Australia, as of 2010鈥11, had only 134,000 farm businesses employing 307,000 people to manage 52% of Australia 鈥 417.3 million hectares of land, including the 46.3% of Australia that is marginal land.
If we apply for a loan, we are subject to financial interrogation and if it looks like we will not be able to repay it the lender will not take the risk. It is reasonable to assume the same strict conditions apply when mining companies wish to buy or lease our land.
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