More than one hundred locals have filled the streets of Bundaberg calling on politicians to reject Western Australian company Fox Resources’ plans for a new coal mine on farmland north of the city.
Locals demanded Fox Resources abandon its plans, telling the company a coal mine would threaten the food producing region’s $1.5 billion agricultural industry, and the natural environment that supported a billion dollar tourism industry.
Footage and photos of the rally are available here.
Fox Resources has been trying to build a coal mine between the Burnett and Kolan Rivers, only ten kilometres from Bundaberg, and not far from the world-renowned turtle nesting sites at Mon Repos, and the southern Great Barrier Reef, for four years.
The Queensland Government has twice recommended the company’s plans be rejected, finding the mine was not in the community’s interest. Both LNP and Labor MPs from the region have opposed the project.
Coal Free Bundaberg spokesperson Cristel Simmonds, who lives within Fox Resources’ Mineral Development Licence area, said Saturday’s rally highlighted the strength of local opposition to Fox Resources’ planned coal mine.
“We are determined to stop Fox Resources’ polluting coal mine because it threatens our region’s ability to produce food, it threatens locals' livelihoods, and it threatens the natural environment that we love,” she said.
“But we are also fed up with having to fight this unwanted coal project. Four years is too long. Our elected leaders should have stopped this threat by now, so we are calling on politicians of all stripes to stop the delay and cancel this polluting coal mine proposal.
“People deserve a decision; Fox Resources must not be allowed to destroy our food bowl and threaten our reef just so it can mine coal.
“Fox Resources, you are not welcome here. Our land is for our people, our food, and our environment. If this coal mine goes ahead it doesn’t just affect us, it affects future generations. We can’t let that happen.”
ENDS