Right now mining magnates like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart are pressuring the Government into allowing them to build the world's largest coal export facility that would literally double Australia's coal exports, right in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. It might sound unbelievable but in just 36 weeks time a decision will be made.
Last year, the success of our campaign to put a price on pollution proved that together we can take on vested interests, and win -- as long as we're organised and prepared. While we don't have the wealth of mining magnates, we do have a movement of Australians motivated to fight for what's right. A small donation of $8 a week over the next 8 months until the Minister makes his decision will allow us to take on the fight to save the Great Barrier Reef and stand up to the greed of mining billionaires. Can you chip in?
www.getup.org.au/dont-let-clive-get-his-way
If mining magnates are successful in convincing the Australian Government to give the green light to massive new coal export facilities the Reef would feel the burden of thousands more ships passing through and tens of thousands of tonnes of seafloor dredged while our climate would feel the impact of an extra 385 million tonnes of coal exported every year.
That's why a community campaign that stands up to big mining is needed right now. If 500 of us make a small weekly contribution to the campaign, we'll:
- Provide community activists with campaign training and help give them a voice in the media;
- Hold press events and forums bringing attention to how the mining industry unfairly benefits from federal handouts
- Ensure the best scientific and legal research into how and why the reef should be saved is front and center in the public debate;
- Use advertising and traditional community mobilisation tactics to ensure all Australians and the global community know what the mining industry is up to and that large natural areas in Queensland - including the reef - are under threat right now;
- And, bring the force of our progressive community, the biggest in Australia, to defend our land and environment from vested interests
At GetUp we don't have any fundraising staff - we put everything you donate into taking action and building a progressive Australia. Can you help out by making a small weekly contribution between now and December when the Environment Minister will decide whether or not to give in to the pressure of the mining industry?
www.getup.org.au/dont-let-clive-get-his-way
If Clive Palmer and others get their way, they will build a coal port within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area that would be larger than any other coal export facility on the planet! To build the port facility, large areas of the Reef would become an industrial zone. Shipping channels would be carved out of the marine park by dredging up tens of thousands of tonnes of the sea floor, devastating the habitat of marine wildlife such as turtles, dugongs and dolphins. Once up and running, thousands of coal ships would make their way through the Great Barrier Reef every year - increasing the very real risk of an oil spill.
We've done the numbers: if 500 people chip in $8 a week each, we can get this campaign started. Anything more than that and we'll be able to turbo-charge our efforts in standing up to mining executives. But anything less, and we'll struggle to match the influence of vested interests, who have billions of dollars at their disposal.
So, this is a bit unusual, but I'm asking everyone to help get us to 500 donors. If we make it, we'll start debiting your contribution. If we don't make it to 500, I'll write back to let you know, and we won't charge your card - but that will mean we will have to scale down the campaign.
Can you chip in?
www.getup.org.au/dont-let-clive-get-his-way
At GetUp we run lots of different campaigns, and we fund each campaign separately. That means that if someone donates to our campaign to protect the Great Barrier Reef, their contributions go exclusively to that campaign. It also means that each campaign has to raise the funds required to keep it going. With your support, we'll save the Reef and stand up against the might and power of the mining industry.
Thanks for your support,
Simon Sheikh and the GetUp team.
PS - It sounds cliched but it's true that from little things big things grow. We've seen the strength of our movement before when we all chip in small amounts on a regular basis. Thanks to 1094 GetUp climate champions - people like you who chipped in an average of $10 a week - we were able to fuel a movement by providing critical support at key tipping points during the campaign to price carbon pollution. Small regular donations meant getting consistent and unprecedented media coverage, message-testing communications, running advertisments in the electorates of key decision-makers, holding the largest rallies on climate that Australia has ever seen and - most importantly - securing Australia's biggest climate win in history. Can you stand up to big mining and make a small weekly donation? www.getup.org.au/dont-let-clive-get-his-way
