Millions of people are taking action to #StopAdani. Adani is attempting to build one of the world’s largest coal mines in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland. Our federal and Queensland governments have promised Adani free access to coal, unlimited access to water and, until recently, a $1 billion in public money.
But with the overwhelming majority of Australians against the mine project, ordinary people are taking extraordinary action to stop this mine from going ahead.
Australians don’t want to see public money spent supporting Adani’s dirty mine which will fuel global warming impacts and destroy the Great Barrier Reef.
Right across the country, people are joining together to #StopAdani. Here is a timeline of what we’ve achieved together, in just 12 short months.
Ordinary people are taking extraordinary action to #StopAdani.
12 months of #StopAdani action
December, 2016
• 3rd: Media reports the NAIF has granted preliminary approval for a $1 billion loan for the North Galilee Rail Project for Adani’s Carmichael coal project.
• 4th: Adani CEO Gautam Adani flies to Australia, 500 people protest outside the Commonwealth government offices in Melbourne where Adani meets with Malcolm Turnbull (photos here).
• 5th: Hundreds of people protest in Townsville as Adani meets Queensland Premier Palaszczuk (photos here).
• 16th: Petition to stop a $1 billion loan to billionaire mining company Adani reaches 1 million signatures.
January, 2017
• 31st: Reachtel polling on $1 billion loan to Adani shows that 74.4% of Australians oppose the loan.
February, 2017
• 20th: 1000 people across Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne take action outside Westpac branches to call on the bank to rule out funding Adani (photos here & video here).
• 16th: Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) launches The Adani Brief: What governments and financiers need to know about the Adani Group’s record overseas. Based on hundreds of court documents, it highlighted the Adani Group’s long record of failing to comply with environmental law. See also GetUp!’s action site: The Adani Files.
March, 2017
• 15th: Queensland Premier Palaszczuk flew to India with Queensland mayors, so a #StopAdani delegation headed to India too. They delivered a letter to Adani from prominent Australians including cricket legends Greg and Ian Chappell, and confronted the Queensland Premier in India. (Photos here).
• 22nd: 13 key environment groups, representing 1.5 million Australians launch the Stop Adani Alliance at Parliament House in Canberra, with Bob Brown (photos here, media release here).
• 22nd: EJA advised the Bombay Stock Exchange of contradictory and unclear reports on the identity of the applicant of the NAIF loan. Is it the publicly-listed Adani Enterprises, or a private Adani company, headquartered in the Cayman Islands?
• 28th – 31st: The Stop Adani Roadshow hosts sold-out public meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Townsville. 4,000 people attend with a further 40,000 watching the live steam (photos here, video here).
April, 2017
• 160 local StopAdani groups form and register on stopadani.com
• Guarding the Galilee, a documentary on why we should #StopAdani launches and community groups host more than 400 screenings throughout 2017 (photos here).
• 6th: EJA, on behalf of IEFFA, lodged a complaint with the Productivity Commission, arguing that a $1 billion taxpayer-funded loan from NAIF to support a private coal-hauling railway would breach competitive neutrality principles.
• 8th: Westpac’s Birthday Party #StopAdani action (photos here, video here).
• 12th: Rally at Indian High Commission where #StopAdani Canberra hands over the Adani Dirt File (photos here, video here).
• 12th: Legal analysis by EJA found NAIF directors would breach their duties to consider the financial risks associated with climate change if they make an investment decision in support of a Galilee Basin rail project.
• 28th: Westpac rules out funding Adani with a new policy prohibiting lending to projects in new coal basins (see StopAdani video here and another video here).
May, 2017
• 8th: Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network organise candle-lit vigil spelling out “Land rights not mining rights” on Parliament House lawns ahead of the Native Title Act amendments (video here).
• 19th-23rd: CommBank Week of Action, what started as a Westpac week of action quickly became 2500 people with 50 actions at CommBank branches after a win on Westpac days beforehand (photos here).
June, 2017
• 1,200 ideas were submitted for the People’s Banks of Better Ideas.
July, 2017
• Stop Adani Challenge: PM Malcom Turnbull’s office received a phone call about Adani every 10 minutes for three days straight.
• 5th: 300 people shut down 14 CommBank branches across Newcastle.
• 7th: Charlie Veron, the Godfather of Coral, addresses the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and tells them Australia has to get cracking on climate action (video here).
• Stop Adani MP challenge: people surveyed their electorates on the Adani mine project and gave the results to their MPs (photos here).
August, 2017
• 11th: 300 Canberra residents form a STOP ADANI human sign on the laws of Parliament House as the federal inquiry into the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has its first public hearing (photos here).
• 11th: CommBank rules out Adani, saying they ‘are not amongst the banks who have been, or will be, asked to consider this financing’.
• Late August: #StopAdani Summits across north and central Queensland bring community members together.
September, 2017
• 2nd: Sydney #StopAdani Summit brought together 350 people from 25 community groups and organisations to discuss the campaign. Bob Brown was a keynote speaker.
• 10th: Brisbane #StopAdani Summit brought together 180 people from 15 community groups.
• 16th: Port Macquarie #StopAdani Summit makes media with 80 people from across the Mid-North Coast including Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Gloucester, and Taree coming together to #StopAdani.
• People came together for a week of action united, clear in their resolution to say no. No to new coal. No to building Australia’s largest coal mine. They stood together peacefully outside Adani’s Abbot Point coal port to say #StopAdani, keep this dirty coal in the ground.
October, 2017
• 2nd: ABC Four Corners screens an expose on the social, environmental and financial impacts of Adani projects in India and the implications for Australia.
• 2nd through to November: Midnight Oil tours Australia, continuing to put #StopAdani front and centre, including a photo shoot on the Reef (photos here).
• 7th: #StopAdani BigDay of Action launches with 20,000+ people in 65+ rallies coming together to spell out the words ‘#StopAdani’ with their bodies in human signs across Australia. Biggest rallies include Brisbane, Melbourne, and Bondi in Sydney (photos here and video here).
• 29th: Melbourne #StopAdani Summit, 350 people from 40 different community groups and organisations come together in Melbourne to discuss how to #StopAdani (photos here).
• 29th: Annastacia Palaszczuk calls election and her press conference is interrupted by #StopAdani protesters, making Stop Adani campaign front and centre of all media reports.
November, 2017
• 1st – 25th: Stop Adani unleashes a relentless presence on the election campaign trail. Candidates and leaders found Stop Adani protesters wherever they went – even as they cast their vote on polling day.
• 3rd: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces her Government will have “no role in the future” of an assessment of a $1 billion loan to Adani for its Carmichael coal mine. This backflip is testement to the strengh and persistence of the #StopAdani campaign.
• 9th-23rd: The #StopAdani Shakeup, a week of action targeting Federal MPs kicked off around the nation. 25 actions, including actions at offices of Anthony Albanese, Malcolm Turnbull, Josh Frydenberg, and three actions at Bill Shorten’s office (photos here).
• 16th-30th: 130,000 calls are placed by calling parties run by GetUp, GetUp Action Groups and #StopAdani groups into marginal electorates across Queensland.
• 18th: Great Big Stop Adani Doorknock: 1,500 homes were doorknocked in Qld Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls’ electorate of Clayfield. The results? 84% of respondents did not support a billion dollar taxpayer loan to Adani. The results were handed into his office the following week.
• 21st: A multi-faith group of 6 peaceful religious representatives protested construction of Adani’s rail line.
• 25th: 333 GetUp volunteers give out How-To-Votes on Queensland election day at key polling booths in marginal electorates across Queensland.
• 27th: #StopAdani rally on steps of Queensland Parliament on first working day after the election calls for likely election winner Palaszczuk to deliver on her promise and veto the $1 billion loan (photos here and video here).
December, 2017
• 1st, 3rd & 5th: 3 Chinese banks, and then the Chinese embassy, rule out funding for Adani. Banks giving commitments include China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of China in response to actions and lobbying.
• 12th: Palaszczuk formally vetoes the $1 billion loan application to NAIF for Adani’s coal project, the first official act of her returned government.
• 13th: 4th Chinese bank rules out funding Adani! China Merchants Bank confirms they will not finance Adani project either.
• 14th: NAB rules out funding for any new thermal coal mining projects, including new proposed expansions.
• 18th: Downer EDI – one of Adani’s main contractors – walks away from the project, announcing it will no longer develop and operate Adani’s proposed mine. This was a result of lobbying, community campaigning and the lack of financial viability of the project.
Press link for more: Stop Adani Face Book
jpratt27 
Fantastic chronology with evidence of the people power in images that speak louder than words!
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