Text & images by Kerrie Pacholli

Open Media has been employed to film and report on the Macnamara Candidates’ Forum on climate change & energy held at St Kilda Town Hall on April 3rd, 2019.

One of the organisers, artist Anselm von Rood from Stop Adani and  partner documentary film maker Nicole Ma are strongly opposed to the Adani / Wilmar / Carmichael’s earth shattering mining scheme being set up at the Galilee Basin in Queensland. A hot topic of debate in politics as it threatens The Australian Great Barrier Reef as well as earth’s atmosphere in general.

I had a not so informed awareness of the name Adani and threats to The Great Barrier Reef, but like many, I am prone to wearing blinkers when it comes to issues that I feel I have little control over. So I mustered the courage and googled Adani Australia. 

I discovered on the Adani Wilmar website they proudly state:

‘…At Adani Wilmar, we are committed towards working for a healthy growing India…’

Adani Australia is a company privately owned by Gautam Shantilal Adani, an Indian billionaire industrialist who is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group.

Their partners for the Carmichael Mine and The Great Barrier Reef mining threat is the Singapore based company Wilmar owned  by Vinod Adani, sole director of a number of Singapore-registered companies that control the Australian rail and port assets and are in turn owned first in the Cayman Islands and then in the British Virgin Islands.

Adani Australia website states it is an energy and infrastructure company, dedicated to delivering energy solutions for an advancing world.  One question that springs to mind is advancing into what…

I found it interesting that the Adani Australia website spearheaded their message to the world by showcasing Adani Renewables Australia first.

So far, one solar farm called Rugby Run near Morenbah became fully operational in early 2019. Apparently, there is another solar farm on the drawing board earmarked for Whyalla.

I learned that Adani / Wilmar / Carmichael conglomerant has mined coal in Australia for over 30 years and there is little doubt in anyone’s mind that Adani are good at employing people to mine coal and transport coal around the world.

I discovered that Adani Australia is keen to deliver power to the millions of Indian’s who have lived without coal driven electricity and that Adani have a power purchase agreement signed to sell 80% of energy generated.

I learned that Adani boasts owning the largest and most effective earth shattering dredging equipment. That this multi-dimensional energy and infrastructure conglomerate has acquired ownership of endless ports and rail transport networks around Australia and the rest of the globe.

“… At peak capacity the Carmichael mine would produce 60 million tonnes of coal a year, much of it “low quality, high ash…”

Perhaps Adani will conquer the world, literally, with their coal driven electricity trajectory.

The question beggars, are there other ways of creating electricity and energy and employing people in  Australia and around the world  in an eco friendly way? At the Macnamara Candidates’ Forum on climate change & energy I discovered there are other ways to power and employ in eco friendly, progressive ways, that will allow future generations of humans, plants and animals live.

Open Media is working with Port Phillip EcoCentre, Australian Conservation Foundation, PPAS (Port Phillip Alliance for Sustainability. Stop Adani, CAPP (Community Alliance of Port Phillip. LIVE (Locals into Victoria’s Environment, unChained and AYCC (Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

We will be continuing our coverage with extended film footage of the complete forum very soon as we head towards the Federal Elections on the 18 May 2019, so stay posted for other angles to this debate.