I just sent this email to the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull:
Just for the record, I do not know the PM, but I did ‘chat’ with him by email after he lost to Tony Abbott, way back when. At the time, I wanted to congratulation him on being a man of integrity, even if he was a Liberal. I still receive updates from his staff.
And that brings me to the second point I want to clarify: I know the PM won’t read this email of mine. It is quite possible that his staffers won’t read it either. In all likelihood, the subject line of ‘Adani’ will be more than enough to get it binned sight unseen.
But…
I know Climate Change is real.
I know its caused by us, and
I know that our long-term survival requires that we do something about it.
Digging up more coal is not the answer. And neither is paying a ridiculous amount of money to gain a very few jobs in Queensland. The 10,000 jobs bandied about were never a reality. The truth is that if Adani goes ahead, we’ll be lucky to get 1500 jobs.
$900,000,000 [the cost of the rail link] divided by 1500 equals $600,000.
Think about it, one job will cost us 600,000 dollars.
I’m no mathematician, but that doesn’t seem like a very good deal to me.
If you agree, please pass this on. The more Australians who know what’s really involved, and get angry, the better our chances of actually stopping this madness. Trickledown economics has never worked, especially when it comes via the Cayman Island tax haven. We really are smarter than this.
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
April 14th, 2017 at 12:16 pm
I believe it’s important to speak up. If everyone remains silent nothing will change. Well done!
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April 14th, 2017 at 9:56 pm
Exactly! Thank you.
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April 14th, 2017 at 8:52 am
Reblogged this on Anne Lawson and commented:
The Adani mine is planned for Queensland and is generating a lot of opposition, for a range of reasons. One of the most compelling for me is the damage it is likely to do to the Great Barrier Reef, both directly and indirectly through CO2 emissions from burning the coal. Meeks from Meeka’s Mind has written a great letter to our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, giving him reasons why Australia should not loan Adani almost $1 billion to build a rail line from the mine to the coast.
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April 14th, 2017 at 9:12 am
Thanks, Anne. We may be just foot soldiers, but this is a fight we must win.
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April 14th, 2017 at 8:47 am
Great email, Meeks, and I hope he at leasts reads it. The Adani situation is yet another train wreck that we can all see coming. There was a ripping session on the Drum last week, with Warren Mundine arguing for the mine and the loan, and other panelists arguing vehemently against him. Your post need to be reposted, so I am about to do that, from the comfort of my bed on a lazy Good Friday morning!
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April 14th, 2017 at 9:16 am
Yes! I saw that episode of The Drum too, and I wondered how Warren Mundine could reconcile his love of the Reef with his responsibility to his people. Definitely a rock and a hard place. The mine would represent ‘some’? jobs for indigenous people in the area, but sadly, I think the negative consequences far outweigh the good. I’m sure Indigenous communities and Queensland as a whole could find some better way of using that $900,000,000, but the Libs can’t see past coal. 😦
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April 14th, 2017 at 4:07 am
A good ol’ fashioned contextual complaint thoughtfully written beats a twitter battle any day. Good on you for speaking your mind.
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April 13th, 2017 at 5:33 pm
good luck. I write to my MP often. His staff usually respond, and on occasion it sounds as though he’s actually acted on the issue.
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April 13th, 2017 at 9:20 pm
I’m not holding my breath, but the whole thing is just crazy. One nice thing about being older, you can be more militant without caring what other people may think of you. Chaining myself to a tree next? Maybe not that militant!
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April 13th, 2017 at 10:00 pm
lol. I reckon that attitude change begins around 35, firms up at about 40 and I expect to be fully freed from expectations once my mother no longer has an opinion!
Mind you. I was a Union Rep at 21; and have always been rather opinionated. Hence having a ‘select’ group of pals 😉 Have a good Easter break. x
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