Air quality standards in Australia are in dire need of improvement. The Australian State, Territory and Commonwealth governments are currently reviewing the existing standards which outline ‘safe’ levels of exposure from a variety of air pollution sources.  

This gives us an opportunity to ask the Federal Environment Minister (Greg Hunt) to improve our air quality standards so we can have the cleanest air possible. 

An estimated 3,000 premature Australian deaths are linked to poor air quality and if these standards are improved, lives could be saved.

The coal mining industry is our Australia’s main source of particle pollution, and they have admitted that their emissions have grown by a massive 187% in the last ten years. These standards need to be changed – please sign the petition to make sure they have to limit their emissions. 

Coal seam gas is set to increase massively in Central Queensland. Arrow Energy is deciding this year whether to proceed with the Bowen Gas project, which could mean up to 6000 new wells, so its crucial they hear from people like you.

We are supporting the call from farmers organisations, such as Agforce, for a moratorium on coal seam gas until its impacts on land, water and the climate are better understood.

Please sign our petition here: http://www.mackayconservationgroup.org.au/bowen_csg_petition

Areas in North Queensland, like Townsville, are experiencing their driest wet season on record, and the Bureau of Meterology is declaring a major El Nino, further South we’re seeing unprecedented storms and heavy rainfalls.  This is extreme weather.

Australia is already at the forefront of climate change impacts but we’re not seeing leadership from our local politicians. Even though we have a climate sceptical local member in George Christensen MP, Abbot needs to know there are people in Mackay - and elsewhere! - that want to see strong targets at the climate talks in Paris.

Please sign the petition, which is part of a national petition that will be presented on 25th May to national leaders (wording courtesy of WWF)

 Air quality standards in Australia are in dire need of improvement. The Australian State, Territory and Commonwealth governments are currently reviewing the existing standards which outline ‘safe’ levels of exposure from a variety of air pollution sources.  

This gives us an opportunity to ask the Federal Environment Minister (Greg Hunt) to improve our air quality standards so we can have the cleanest air possible. 

An estimated 3,000 premature Australian deaths are linked to poor air quality and if these standards are improved, lives could be saved.

The coal mining industry is our Australia’s main source of particle pollution, and they have admitted that their emissions have grown by a massive 187% in the last ten years. These standards need to be changed.  Please sign the petition below calling for stronger air quality standards.

Mackay Conservation Group has joined with 350.org and over 40 local groups around the country on a national week of actions next week called Raise the Heat on Commbank. We’d love you to be involved - check out all the details below.

Now is an important time to step things up and put CommBank’s reputation on the line -either they publicly rule out their involvement OR they face a creative and unrelenting campaign.

In Mackay, we have events planned from the Monday to the Friday, and Friday will be the big day where we hope as many people as possible will come. We would love you to join in, and invite your friends and family along too. To get involved, please email our fantastic volunteer Tiffany Harrison at [email protected], or contact her on 042629978.

We had a great turn out at our event with Tim Buckley and Amanda Cahilll at the MECC on Tuesday April 14 with over 90 people. If you missed the event but want to hear what they had to say, you can check out their interview with Kim Kleidon on ABC Tropical North. Tim has also generously shared his presentation which you download here.

Amanda did a great presentation on how communities can work together to build resilient local economies. There were a number of people at that event interested in continuing to work on developing an economic transition, please get in touch if you'd like to be a part of this.

There were heaps of questions and comments from the audience, right is a picture of Tim continuing the conversation with members of the Mackay community.

Financial analyst Tim Buckley will be in Mackay on April 14 talking about the future of global energy markets from coal and gas through to renewable energy and what this means for our region. Tim is very knowledgeable and an excellent public speaker who explains global energy trends in easy to understand language.

Free event, all welcome - to RSVP go to the event page!

In January this year, MCG launched a legal challenge to Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s approval of the Carmichael coal mine. We said that Greg Hunt ignored the contribution of the mine to increased greenhouse gasses and climate change.

Last week we added a further ground to our challenge. Reading over the documents from the case, it was clear that Greg Hunt had chosen to ignore Adani’s poor environmental record in India, even though he knew that Adani had recently been found guilty of violating India’s environment laws in connection with their development at the Mundra Port.

You can read media coverage of this latest addition to our case in the Courier Mail, the Guardian, and the Sydney Morning Herald and at the ABC online.

Getup! travelled to India to talk to people who are living with the environmental devastation at Adani’s Indian port, click below to watch the video.

On 11 March the new government announced their new proposal for the Abbot Point expansion, which shifted dredge spoil from the Caley Valley wetlands to a site immediately adjacent on the former site of terminal 2.

The series of new proposals at Abbot Point are the result of community, scientific and international concern about the compatibility of expanding coal export infrastructure at a time when the health of the Great Barrier Reef is in serious decline.

No-one wants to see increased sediment in the wetlands and the Reef as a result of the new proposal. The new development at Abbot Point was discussed at our last volunteer meeting and the views of the MCG volunteers on the new proposal are summarised at our website. Comments welcome.

The following summarises a discussion at a Mackay Conservation Group volunteers meeting on Thursday 19 March. Please leave any comments below:

One question that has attracted little to no attention in the controversy about make good agreements for the dewatering of groundwater by the coal and gas industry is where will the mining industry will find the water to meet make good agreement requirements?