7 May 2020

Mackay Conservation Group has questioned the Queensland Government’s support of a proposal to spend $2.9 billion on Urannah Dam in Central Queensland saying this is not the best use of public funds to enable an economic recovery.  

The Urannah Dam Project which was first proposed in the 1960s, was progressed today when the Queensland Coordinator General declared it a new coordinated project.

Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Peter McCallum, said “Queensland and Australia are facing an extraordinary crisis, the Queensland Government has proposed to progress another $2.9 billion pipe-dream.  

Media Release

30 April 2020

Today's news that coal mining giant Peabody Energy will be cutting its workforce by ten per cent shows the danger of relying on resource industries according to Mackay Conservation Group.

Peabody Energy says it will lay off 570 staff in Australia and the United States as it grapples with the effects of bushfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Media Release

24 April 2020

Mackay Conservation Group is mobilising the local community to speak out about climate change and its devastating impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

Over the past five years the Reef has experienced three major coral bleaching events. The most recent coral bleaching happened over the past month and was the most widespread yet seen. Persistent or prolonged bleaching can lead to the death of coral.

Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Professor Terry Hughes, said in a media statement earlier this month “For the first time, severe bleaching has struck all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef – the northern, central and now large parts of the southern sectors.”

Widespread coral reef bleaching is linked to extremely hot sea temperatures caused by climate change. In February sea surface temperatures were the hottest on record.

For the first time ever, many reefs offshore from Mackay suffered from severe bleaching during the 2020 event. 

Whitsunday diver instructor, Tony Fontes, said “I am confident that Reef tourism will survive the COVID pandemic. It won’t be easy and many individual operators probably won’t make it. 

“But beyond this pandemic, our continued survival is entirely dependent on a healthy Great Barrier Reef, and a healthy Reef is something that we can no longer take for granted.”

2 March 2020

The threat to wildlife posed by the proposed Urannah Dam has inspired community members to donate more than $20,000 to Mackay Conservation Group over the past six weeks.

Late last year the group began planning a fundraising swim-a-thon, hoping to raise $10,000 for a campaign to highlight the impact Urannah Dam would have on the Irwin's Turtle.

The Swim For Our Rivers fundraiser attracted a lot of community support and more than doubled expectations.

Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Peter McCallum, said "donors contributed amounts from $5 to several thousand dollars.

"We were stunned when one person approached us to say that they would match any donation we received in the last week of the campaign, up to $10,000. It was such a pleasant surprise.

Media Release

23 February 2020

Public Donates $12,000 To Protect Rivers

Members of Mackay Conservation Group have plunged headlong into a campaign to safeguard our rivers.

Community members have donated $12,000 to Mackay Conservation Group’s campaign to protect the region’s rivers from pollution, overuse and dams. 

The group organised the Swim For Our Rivers swim-a-thon at the Pioneer Pool in North Mackay on Saturday. 

Eight teams participated in the fundraising event, with a total of more than 40 people involved, aged from five to seventy-five. 

Mackay Conservation Group will use the funds to commence a campaign that aims to protect the Urannah Creek, west of Mackay, from a proposed dam. 

Federal Government approves Adani water project.

The federal government has approved the North Galilee Water Scheme for the second time in 12 months. The first approval was overturned after a court ruled that the federal environment minister’s office had not properly assessed hundreds of submissions.

The approval will grant the Adani corporation access to up to 12.5 billion litres per year from the Suttor River in central Queensland. This decision makes a mockery of federal environment laws meant to protect rural communities, farmers and the environment”.

The Federal Government has chosen to not apply the water trigger to Adani’s Water project which means there will not be a rigorous assessment of the environmental impacts of the project. Adani will only have to provide "preliminary documents".

Adani has already been fined for polluting coastal wetlands and now they will be allowed to drain billions of litres of precious river water without a proper environmental assessment. Adani can not be trusted to manage our most valuable water resources.

This is yet another free-kick for Adani who have already been gifted an unlimited 60-year groundwater licence and is currently in negotiations for a royalty holiday that is expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The water trigger was put in place for exactly this type of project. The government is failing to follow the safeguards that were put in place to protect rural communities, farmers and the environment from water-guzzling coal mining projects.

Our region is in critical drought and the federal government have chosen to grant the Adani coal mine access to billions of litres of precious river water. Adani’s single coal mine has a licence to extract more water from the Suttor River every year than the 122,000 residents of the city of Mackay use annually.

Michael Kane

[email protected]

Media Release 25/11/2019

Queensland government and Adani royalties deal deadline fast approaching.

On Monday the  Mackay Conservation Group handed a petition with more than 1200 signatures to  Mackay state MP Julieanne Gilbert calling on the Queensland government to keep their election promise not to use public money to fund Adani’s mega coal mine in central Queensland. 

The Queensland government are currently in negotiations to gift the Adani mine a royalty-free holiday that would allow Adani to defer royalty payments to Queensland for up to 10 years. Assuming the mine ever become profitable. 

The Mackay conservation group have gathered the petitions from our support in central Queensland and around the country because we are concerned that the Queensland government are on the cusp of subsidising Adani’s Carmichael mine to the tune of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

The agreed deadline for the negotiations is the 30th of November though taxpayers may never know the terms of any agreement as both parties have remained secretive about the talks, citing commercial in confidence.

The previous deadline for negotiations of 30th of September passed without an agreement or an explanation from Adani or the Government  but spokesperson for the Mackay Conservation Group Mr Michael Kane said  that Adani Australia are so heavily in debt that the company  may not have any  assets or cash reserves that the Queensland government could accept as collateral for such a  massive loan.

“We  know that the government is  considering a deal that could effectively save or delay Adani paying  up to $700 million in royalties.''  Said Mr Kane. “In the last state election, the premier promised that no government funding would be given to Adani and that the  Carmichael mine must stack up financially.”

“Any royalty holiday for Adani would  break that promise and would amount to an enormous  government subsidy or taxpayer-funded loan.”

“Australia’s mineral resources belong to all of us and royalties are the price that every mining company has to pay so that Australian receive a fair return for our non-renewable resources. Why should Adani get special treatment when every other mining company in Australia have to pay their fair share.”

“The Queensland government has already done far  too much to support a project that will contribute to the destruction of the Reef and guzzle up to a trillion litres of the ground and river water over the life of the mine.” 

“Significant questions have been raised by financial experts about Adani Australia’s financial position. Adani Australia is currently carrying billions of dollars in debt and hasn’t paid any real taxes in Australia since 2011.  If the Carmichael project turns out to be unviable or fails, then taxpayers will be left to foot the bill to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“The fact that Adani is asking for a special Royalty deal highlights that the project does not stack up financially. There isn’t a single financial institution in the world who  are prepared to finance Adani’s mine why is the Queensland government even considering it?”

End of release.

For interviews contact

Michael Kane 

[email protected]

Mackay Conservation Group

Media Release

2 September 2019

Mackay locals concerned about Adani’s financial situation.

 New reports analysing Adani Mining’s financial situation have some Mackay locals concerned.

“Adani has shown it can’t be trusted with the environment. Now Mackay locals are also very concerned that Adani may not be able to pay their bills to contractors.” Said Sunny Hungerford , a spokesperson from Mackay Conservation Group

 “The new Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reports outline Adani’s perilous financial situation and notes that Adani Mining already appears insolvent. We are worried that Adani will cause a lot of damage to our environment in the process of building a project which may collapse. The Adani Carmichael coal mine looks like it will be  leaving financial and environmental chaos in its wake.” 

 One concerned member of the Mackay community, Stephen Bulloch, who has now retired from the coal industry, commented on the subject.  “Adani’s financial situation doesn’t look good, I personally would not take the gamble of working with Adani, it’d be backing the wrong horse”

Media Release
16 July 2019

Adani demands CSIRO scientists’ names: Mackay Conservation Group raises concerns

The Mackay Conservation Group says Adani should be investigated following revelations that the company requested the identities of CSIRO scientists involved in assessing the mining giant’s groundwater management plan (ABC today, Adani demands names of CSIRO scientists reviewing groundwater plans).

Mackay Conservation Group spokesperson, Michael Kane, says “Adani’s actions are clearly designed to intimidate people who work for some of Australia’s most trusted institutions and organisations, including the CSIRO and Geocsience Australia.

“All Australians should be concerned about international corporations applying undue pressure on our independent regulators, regardless of whether they support Adani’s Carmichael project or not.

“If there was a federal anti-corruption body this would be exactly the kind of conduct it would be responsible for examining.

13 June 2019

Queensland Government has ignored science by giving away water to Adani

Mackay Conservation Group has today condemned the Queensland Government’s approval of Adani’s Groundwater plan. The group expressed disappointment that the government had given in to bullying by the billionaire mining company and ignored the science, risking Queensland’s water.

Mackay Conservation Group community organiser Emma Barrett said, “Today’s decision has ignored expert warnings that Adani’s mine could permanently damage Queensland’s groundwater. Leading water scientists tell us that Adani’s modelling is flawed, not fit for purpose and risks drying up the ecologically important Doongmabulla Springs.

The Doongmabulla Springs is home to four endangered plant and animal species including birds, herbs and grasses.