Green, Resources - Greyhound Drops Adani
Under pressure from activists opposed to the Adani coal mine, the bus company Greyhound Australia has ruled out any extension of work on the controversial project.
"Greyhound Australia has received numerous messages, emails and phone calls from people expressing their thoughts both for and against the Carmichael Rail network and Adani Carmichael project," read a statement from Greyhound. "Following considered deliberation, and in the best interest of our staff, customers and partners, greyhound Australia has decided not to enter into a contractual agreement with BMD to service construction of the Carmichael Rail Network beyond our preliminary 31 March 2020 commitment."
Last week, the Guardian newspaper reported that Greyhound warned its people that they could be caught "in the crossfire" of anti-Adani campaigners after the company took a three-month contract at the coal project, with an option to extend that we now know won't happen.
News of Greyhound's contract with Adani didn't go down well with groups and entities that oppose the Indian-owned coal mine. The conservation group Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation announced it had terminated a partnership with Greyhound. The group SchoolStrike4Climate had launched a campaign to boycott Greyhound buses. And the anti-Adani group Galilee Blockade was planning to protest at Brisbane's Roma Street bus depot - a demonstration taht is now called off because of Greyhound backing away from Adani.
"Most Australians don't want the Adani mine and every single company with a retail brand has listened to their customers and dumped Adani," Galilee Blockade said in a statement to the SBS' NITV News. "We're already experiencing climate chaos and corporations simply have to take heed of an angry public increasingly willing to risk legal sanction for a liveable climate."
The protest group's statement continued, "Sixty five percent of Australians are opposed to Carmichael coal mine and clearly willing to boycott companies in bed with Adani. We'll never stop until governments offer regional communities better alternatives than subsidising a dirty dying industry with our money."