Update (8/2/2016): An investigation discovered that a coal export facility right next to the Great Barrier Reef is spilling coal into the ocean. Coal was found polluting the ocean, and staining beaches black near Mackay and Louisa Creek.
Coal giant Adani's proposed coal expansion project up in Queensland is a disaster waiting to happen. Not only is the company facing allegations of corruption, coal spills like this could become the norm.
Can you please sign to tell Westpac not to fund this dirty project that could destroy the Great Barrier Reef?
**********
Adani – the company behind the coal mega-mine that would destroy the Great Barrier Reef – is being investigated for corruption and financial crimes.
This includes illegal exports, trade-based money laundering, and bribery of public officials.
It’s clear that no Australian bank should be financing a business that is facing serious allegations of crime, let alone a project that would destroy the Reef.
But Westpac still hasn’t ruled out giving Adani money.
Adani’s coal mine is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. That’s why so many local and international banks have already ruled out financing it: from HSBC to the UK bank Standard Chartered (which SumOfUs members helped make happen!), and recently ANZ too.
If banks won’t fund Adani’s project, it can’t go ahead.
Westpac relies on customers to keep itself in business – so it cares what you think. This corruption investigation is an opportunity to force it to make a decision.
We can tip Westpac's decision. To do that, we need people like you, customers and potential customers, to show Westpac that we are watching this corruption investigation closely and expect it to respond.
Can you please tell Westpac to rule out funding Adani's mega-mine and help save the Reef?
Adani, based in India, has been accused of siphoning money offshore and artificially inflating energy prices at the expense of consumers. The company’s also been accused of involvement in large-scale illegal iron ore exports, money laundering, and bribery of public officials.
If the mega-mine goes ahead, we are trusting a potentially corrupt company to protect one of our most important national treasures – the Great Barrier Reef.
We stand to lose millions of tonnes of World Heritage Area seabed, which will be dredged so that more coal can be shipped through the Reef.
This project would unleash all the coal in the Galilee basin – setting off a carbon bomb and driving dangerous global warming.
We don’t have much time. Turnbull has already given conditional approval for a $1 billion loan for this project. Adani’s so confident the mine will go ahead that it has started hiring staff in Queensland and even purchased materials.
SumOfUs members like you and our partners have signed petitions, taken action on social media, and funded rallies and ads in national newspapers.
Already we’ve forced huge banks like Standard Chartered and electronics giant LG to reject this mega-mine.
Let’s get Westpac to do the same.
Your voice in this campaign matters. Can you please tell Westpac to drop corrupt Adani and rule out funding Reef destruction now?
More information
ABC News. 7 February 2016.
ABC News. 3 December 2016.
ABC. 22 December 2016.