The coal lobby is scared of you. GET UP

Dear NEVILLE,

We just had another win, and you’ve got the coal lobby running scared.

Yesterday another major bank, Standard Chartered, ruled out funding Adani’s Carmichael mine and coal port on the Reef coast! That’s a Federal Court case and two major investment banks in less than a week. Nobody saw this coming.

Did you know the Minerals Council of Australia, funded by giants of the coal industry, is scared of you? Like a frightened cat backed into a corner, the lobby is lashing out wildly. We haven’t even won yet, but they’re already freaking out about what we do next.

“It would certainly give pause to new investors if they think they are going to be subject to this rat-baggery… Inevitably the environmental groups will move onto the next coal seam gas projects and coal mine expansions,” chief executive Brendan Pearson warned the Australian Financial Review.¹

Some “rat-baggery” it’s been, too.

For four years, and spanning three Environment Ministers, GetUp members like you have fought the monstrous Carmichael mine and Abbot Point coal terminal. You’ve fought to protect the Great Barrier Reef. You’ve fought to stop one of the biggest coal mines in the world. You’ve fought to protect the rights of the Traditional Owners of the land.

We’re under attack because we’re winning. And we could be so close to tasting victory.

Two years ago, we launched a Reef Fighting Fund to take on Adani. That fund has fuelled four court cases, and changed the landscape of the Australian environmental movement in the process. The Fighting Fund was extraordinary. What we need now is a Winning Fund.

With one final push, we can win forever. We can pack Adani up and say goodbye. We can stop the burning of one of the biggest coal reserves on the planet. We can protect one of the most treasured places on Earth. We can be part of a win that defines a generation.

But the coal lobby, the Murdoch press and our coal-hearted Prime Minister won’t go easily. In fact, they cling more desperately to the past than ever.

Can you be a part of the Reef Winning Fund that can help stop the Carmichael mine forever?

Whether it’s ensuring legal scrutiny or running strategic campaign tactics, we’re going to use the fund to do everything we can to get this over the line and have a once-in-a-generation victory. You, and everyone else who has fought so hard for so long, deserve it.

If Adani happens to fall over and the fund is still going, we’ll do exactly what the Minerals Council is afraid of. We’ll use it to fight the next big, dirty project that threatens our environment, climate and health.

Cashed-up coal lobbyists are scared of us for good reason. Carmichael and Abbot Point was a project that was destined to proceed. Fighting it seemed next to impossible. But you did fight it. You dug your heels in with thousands of other people. You became part of a movement that demonstrated a collective power the big polluters just weren’t prepared for.

We’ve done so much. But if we can win this fight forever, it will change everything.

Join us to be a part of the Reef Winning Fund. Together, we can win this thing for good: https://www.getup.org.au/reef-winning-fund

Can you imagine the new clean future we’re already seeing glimpses of? Like the front page of the SMH which posed the question “Turning Point for Coal?”. Or huge economies like China shutting down coal-fired power stations en masse to protect its citizens. Or the unstoppable wind and solar energy exploding across the world.

The sunlight is seeping through the cracks. It’s time for us to throw the door open.

Sam R, for the GetUp team.

[1] Anti-coal activists to turn from Adani to mine expansions. Australian Financial Review August 9, 2015.