28 March 2010
A mass community protest at the biggest coal port in the world has succeeded in preventing coal ship movements all day today. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have occupied the harbour since 10am this morning. As the blockade closes, organisers are hailing it a success.
Naomi Hodgson, spokesperson for organisers Rising Tide Newcastle, said: “Today was scheduled to be a busy day in the world’s busiest coal port. Ordinarily, there would have been at least four or five coal ships move in or out of Newcastle Harbour today, but instead there were none.
“This an amazing demonstration of the power of peaceful mass action by the community. Hundreds of people united to protest the rapid expansion of the Australian export coal industry – this country’s number one cause of climate change.”
“We succeeded in not only shutting down the harbour, but in showing the political leaders in this country exactly what true leadership on climate change looks like. If Australia is serious about climate change, we will put an urgent stop to the expansion of coal, and begin replacing this devastating industry with safe and renewable alternatives.”
“Coal exports are the number one cause of climate change in Australia. The coal we export from NSW and Queensland already accounts for more greenhouse pollution that all onshore sources combined,” concluded Ms Hodgson.
Why blockade the world’s biggest coal port?
Now, more than ever, we need to be turning up the heat on the coal industry, and their friends in government. The export coal industry is Australia’s single biggest, and fastest growing contribution to the global climate crisis.
Newcastle, already the world’s biggest coal port, is opening a major new coal export terminal over the course of this year, bringing the export capacity of the Hunter Valley coal chain to an incredible 178 million tonnes of coal per annum. That’s the climate change equivalent of 30 Bayswater Power Stations. Within ten years, the coal corporations plan on exporting more than 300 million tonnes of coal per annum – a tripling of current export capacity.
Tripling coal exports means tripling coal mining. As Newcastle coal exports boom, more precious bushland will be razed, more waterways polluted, more communities ripped apart as the transnational coal companies carve their way westwards into the Liverpool Plains. The profits will be exported, but the devastation will stay here in the Hunter. The catastrophic effects of climate change will hurt all around the world.
This madness has to stop. The climate crisis is deepening, and time is fast running out. Politicians are failing to take action against the rampant coal companies, so we have to do it ourselves.
Hundreds of people will be doing just that in Newcastle on 28th March, and we’d love you to join us. We’ll be taking to the harbour in a big way, occupying the world’s biggest coal port with a mass of people, and demanding:
* an immediate ban on the expansion of the coal industry in Australia,
* a swift phase out of coal, replacing all coal industry jobs with jobs in renewable energy and other sustainable industries.
Climate protesters delay coal ship docking
Climate activists are attempting to prevent the docking of the first coal ship at Newcastle’s third coal export terminal.
The Panama-registered bulk carrier Sunny Success is entering Newcastle harbour to receive the first shipment of coal from the terminal.
An activist from Rising Tide is hanging from a rope in front of the berth and is blocking the ship’s access to it.
“The Australian coal rush is fuelling global climate change and preventing us from transitioning to sustainable industries,” said Steve Phillips, spokesperson for Rising Tide Newcastle.
“So far, neither the State nor the Federal Governments have demonstrated that they are serious about cutting our biggest single contribution to climate change. Instead, coal ports in NSW and Queensland are undergoing massive expansions, with extensive open cut coal mining projects in both states.
“This industry is destroying landscapes, destroying communities, and is directly threatening everyone’s future through major impacts on the global climate. Around the world, species are going extinct, people are being displaced, climatic disasters are becoming more ferocious because of the climate change we have already caused. It is time to get to the root of the problem, and start phasing out the coal industry.”
“The Australian export coal industry is already this country’s number one cause of climate change, and it is also the fastest growing. Newcastle currently exports 100 million tonnes of coal per annum. Already approved expansion projects will double this figure within a few years,” said Steve Phillips.
Approved in March 2007 by the NSW Labor government, Newcastle’s third coal terminal will increase the port’s capacity by 66 million tonnes per annum, or the equivalent of 160 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution. That is roughly equivalent to doubling NSW domestic greenhouse pollution from all sources.
For more images go to http://drop.io/risingtide
http://www.risingtide.org.au/
Read the report and gawp at the photos of the last impressive action at the port, a rail blockade to inspire us all