The South Australian model of putting in generators to overcome the high energy periods just adds more pollution in the atmosphere. Also battery technology only overcomes short periods and is ideal for extended periods of power outages. 

The clean coal power stations are being built all around the world. My suggestion for renewal power supply would be to extend some of the pain into the cities by making it compulsory for all new buildings to have a wind turbine of 5kw or bigger installed on the roof, or the roof be made of all solar panels. To achieve our emission targets by closing down high-energy manufacturers only potentially increases the emissions around the world as these industries will be located in countries which do not have the high environmental standards as Australia.

Living as I do in Albury within the Murray Darling Basin I am acutely aware of the immense value to Australia of this mysterious hidden precious water resource, which is the source of water for the people of the east of Australia.

It gives us drinking, domestic and industrial water, grows our food and grows our sheep and beef herds. The Great Artesian basin is another resource of incalculatable importance to Australia. These underground water caverns systems are a fragile resource, and to plonk a huge open-cut coalmine over them is courting disaster.

Adani proudly tells us that they are planning to possibly put 12 mines in the Gallilee basin, to make it worthwhile, and a railway to transport the filthy coal to probably Gladstone on the Barrier Reef, meaning that hundreds of huge container vessels will be constantly coming and going with loads of coal, through these waters.

If these mines polluted the primary water resource of Australia, is Adani going to care? Adani would just say “Oops, we made an error, but more fool the Australian government paying out $1 billion of taxpayer money to fund  our mining project, which  put your water resources at risk”.

With India being very pro-active with new technology, it probably won’t be long before batteries will become the main way of grassroots power generation, and coal will, in the not too distant future, be yesterday’s  resource. Adani is probably wanting to quickly start mining while coal is still cost effective, and to hell with the consequences for Australia.

The touted boast that there will be thousands of jobs created, to open up the mine, is questionable. The mining industry is notoriously automated, as we see in West Australia, and to potentially risk the quality of our water source being rendered unusable is suicidal.

As a mother and a grandmother, I feel it my responsibility to make a real effort to hand on our great country as a healthy and viable place into the future. 

Having been at the recent, extremely well run and very effective ‘Stop Adani’ gathering  in Albury-Wodonga with hundreds of others, I felt proud to be associated with the organisers, who had done such a good job. All hands to the pump to stop the Adani mine.