Demonstrators will share scones baked using flour grown just 20kms south of the paddocks Whitehaven wants to carve up for coal as part of protest picnics to be held in Sydney and Gunnedah tomorrow (October 27) to coincide with the company’s Annual General Meeting.
The Sydney protest picnic will begin at nearby Deutsche Bank’s Sydney office, because the financial institution is playing a key role in the process of arranging $2B to help Whitehaven build three new coal mines.
Whitehaven’s AGM comes at a time when world leaders are soon to gather at COP26 in Glasgow to map out a pathway to shift away from coal and act on climate.
Sydney event organiser and Lock the Gate Alliance NSW spokesperson Nic Clyde said in the lead-up to COP26 companies like Whitehaven Coal should not be pursuing dangerous coal mines and expansion.
“We say scones are a lot tastier than the 1.38 gigatonnes of new GHG emissions Whitehaven would produce from building three new coal mine projects as the climate crisis deepens,” he said.
“You can’t eat coal, but you sure can wrap your laughing gear around a great tasting scone or two, baked with wheat from the Namoi. We should be cooking scones, not the planet.”
Mullaley farmer Margaret Fleck, who organised the Gunnedah demonstration said, “The size of land covered by Whitehaven-owned mining leases in NSW is now the size of a small country.
“We’d rather see that land remain in the hands of farmers so they can continue to grow the food we need to have picnics, than for it to be ripped up and turned into another coal mine."
Whitehaven Coal has been found guilty, penalised, or warned on 35 occasions for breaking the law by clearing forests, taking a billion litres of water without a licence, and impacting cultural heritage.
Details:
Sydney:
When: 10am, October 27
Where: Start at Deutsche Bank Place, cnr Hunter and Phillip St, Sydney. Demonstrators will then march to Whitehaven HQ at 28/259 George St.
Gunnedah:
When: 10:30am - 12:30pm October 27
Where: 231 Conadilly St, Whitehaven Gunnedah offices
What: Picnic protests featuring free scones baked from wheat grown in the Namoi Valley