If your island home is slowly drowning because of rising sea levels what would you do? Protest! But where? If you follow the money in Australia it points to the ANZ Bank which is a leading supporter of the fossil fuel industry. Since January 2008, ANZ Bank has loaned approximately $6.6 billion to coal and gas export projects along Australia’s eastern seaboard, including $1.1 billion to projects within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Additionally, ANZ Bank is the leading lender to Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek coal mine in NSW’s Leard State Forest. This is precisely what a group of 30 Islanders representing 12 island nations have done in Melbourne. 80 individuals are today occupying the Melbourne offices of ANZ in support of the Pacific Islanders at risk of losing their homes to climate change. The group comprises Melbourne residents and representatives from a group of Islanders who have come to Australia to oppose the fossil fuel industry. Participants have arranged themselves in concentric circles in the building’s atrium and are chanting poems and testimonials about the effects of climate change. The action follows a high profile blockade of the Newcastle Coal Port last Friday, and a series of occupations of offices including Whitehaven Coal in Sydney, the Minerals Council of Australia in Canberra and Buru Energy in Perth earlier this week. Click below to read the 350.org report on ANZ Bank’s climate-destroying business model! Related articles ‘The Blood That’s to Come’: Pacific Islanders Take on Australian Coal Protests cause ANZ […]
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