Flinders Street Station Banner drop tells Vic Premier to get off the coal train

Climate activists this morning were up early, scaling the front of Melbourne's Flinders Street Station to do an anti-coal and pro-renewables banner drop above the iconic clocks at the station.

Quit coal activists abseiled down the building's facade unfurling the large banner addressed to the Victorian Premier Denis Napthine, "Get off the coal train and on track for Renewables!".

The climbers have been charged with trespass and other offenses. They have all been released from police custody.


Climate activists in front of the station had hundreds of conversations with commuters and shoppers and handed out thousands of leaflets.

Victoria's new Premier Denis Napthine is supportive of wind farms in his own electorate in south west Victoria recently opening the Macarthur wind farm. He is refusing to overturn the restrictive and draconian planning regulations introduced by his predecessor, Ted Baillieu, where residents within 2 kilometres of a proposed windfarm can veto the development. Reversing Victoria's anti-Wind Farm regulation could boost regional development.

The State Government is also still supportive of developing export of the state's brown coal resources, one of the dirtiest, most carbon intensive fuels. This is part of a joint Federal and state project which has received $90 million in Government funding to develop 'advanced lignite technologies'. These are supposed 'clean coal' technologies to convert the high carbon intensive content of lignite into a product somewhat less carbon intense, to justify continued reliance and addiction to coal technologies and to even justify development of a processed brown coal export industry.

"You can drill a coal seam gas well within 100 metres of a home but residents can veto a wind farm within two kilometres of their home," said Chloe Aldenhoven, a Quit Coal spokeswoman in a report in The Age newspaper, “That's despite the well-documented health effects and the effects on land ... coal seam gas can be absolutely disastrous.”

Surveys have shown that the people of Victoria want the State Government to take action on addressing climate change and transitioning away from reliance on coal to renewable energy.

You can show your support for telling the Victorian Premier Denis Napthine to support the transition to renewables by signing the online petition.

Sources:

• Image from Quit Coal Facebook page album - Flinders Street Banner Drop
  
• Peter Hannam, The Age, 6 May 2013 - Just the ticket for anti-coal protesters