Chappell brothers sign open letter to Gautam Adani, asking him to stop mining in Queensland
Anti-mining protesters gathered in Melbourne in the wake of Carmichael project approval. Pic/ ABC news
Australian cricketing greats Ian and Greg Chappell have signed an open letter calling on Indian businessman Gautam Adani to abandon his company's Queensland coalmine project. The Chappells joined 90 prominent Australians in the letter.
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The move was ridiculed by federal government MP George Christensen, who railed against the signatories as “elitist wankers” trying to wipe out job opportunities for struggling Queenslanders.
Ian and Greg Chappell
Christensen said in a statement: “I'd love for just one of them to come down to the Larrikin Hotel in Bowen and explain to the locals there who have been suffering from a stalled economy for years on end, why they think the jobs from the Carmichael Mine and Abbot Point coal port expansion should not be created.”
Ian Chappell spoke exclusively to mid-day about why he was opposed to the mining project.
In his own words:
I've been aware of the mutual respect between India and Australia ever since my first tour to the country in 1969-70. A foundation stone of this ongoing relationship is the rivalry built up on the cricket field.
Over the last 20 years, I've been made aware of climate change thanks to my wife Barbara-Ann. An intelligent woman with a scientific mind and a strong social conscience, Barbara-Ann has been strident about the need to change the way we live.
Armed with this information and my own observations of the increased frequency and ferocity of major weather events, I've come to the same conclusion. Consequently, when Geoff Cousins, the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation [ACF] approached me about the Adani coal mine project in Queensland I was keen to know more. It soon became obvious that the Adani coal mine wasn't a project that had the whole-hearted support of the Australian public.
The project has been dogged by controversy from the outset amidst concerns by traditional Aboriginal landowners and environmentalists over the groundwater impacts and the adverse effect on climate change caused by burning coal from the mine.
In addition the impact on the fragile Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area [as instanced recently by yet another bleaching episode] have made it a highly controversial project, with over two million people actively expressing opposition to it and thirteen global banks ruling out providing funding.
Ian Chappell
I decided to put my name to the letter requesting the Adani company give serious consideration to furthering their investment in renewable energy rather than a coal mine.
The world needs to change its ways and do it quickly if we want the legacy to our grandchildren to be an acceptable one -– renewable energy is an important part of that future.
A decision in favour of renewable energy by the Adanis would further strengthen the already strong ties between India and Australia.
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