Protests slam new plans
Two big protests over the weekend showed anti-fossil fuel sentiment remains strong.
Hundreds of people gathered on an Adelaide beach to protest against drilling in the Great Australian Bight, while an anti-coal convoy has reached Canberra.
In Adelaide, the Hands Across the Sand protest heard that the majority of South Australians do not want oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.
“We don't want oil washing up on our beautiful beaches and we know, in an era of climate change, we just can't afford to be expanding oil drilling or coal mines or any other fossil fuels,” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told the crowd.
Norwegian oil company Equinor says the Bight “could be one of Australia's largest untapped oil reserves”, and is looking to sink a well about 370km off the coast of South Australia.
Work to drill the proposed Stromlo-1 well will begin in 2020, pending regulatory approval.
Ms Hanson-Young says the jobs that the project will bring are “not worth the risk”. Nearly 20 local councils have voiced their opposition.
Meanwhile, veteran environmental activist Bob Brown has led his anti-Adani convoy to its final destination.
The convoy began in Hobart in April and travelled all the way to Clermont in central Queenslandm, before reaching Canberra over the weekend.
At a rally on the lawns of Parliament House, Dr Brown said the two major parties will not stop the Adani mine.
“There will be no divine intervention, it is up to us,” he said to an estimated 2,500-strong crowd.
The major parties continue to bicker over their climate policies, with Labor leader Bill Shorten saying the upcoming election will be a choice between “cowardice and chaos on climate change or courage and action”.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is continuing to push Labor for figures.
“What Bill Shorten has failed to do is come up with realistic targets, costed policies and practical solutions,” he told the ABC.
“He has been very tricky. He has failed to answer the obvious question 63 times - what is the cost to the economy on the policy?”