A documentary from the front lines of Australia’s battle against coal and gas expansion
Sunday 22 July 2012, 5.30-7.30pm
Urchins Rooms 2 and 3, Reef Hotel Casino, 35-41 Wharf Street, Cairns
$10 cash donation at the door ($8 concession)
See www.bimbleboxdocumentary.com for more info
At this critical time, when so much coal and coal seam gas expansion is planned in Australia, this film aims to win the hearts and minds of the people, exposing the destructiveness of this industry to our climate, communities and environment. It tells the stories of the people fighting for their homes and culture. Australia is the worlds largest exporter of coal, providing almost one third of the worlds supply. It is impossible to address climate change without looking at Australia’s role in the planets climate future.
The film, Bimblebox, is about much more that the Nature Refuge in Western Central Queensland, facing destruction to make way for Clive Palmer’s China First Coal mine. It is a cautionary tale, exposing the effects of mining in the Hunter Valley and the Illawarra, warning what might be in store for other regions if planned expansions of the coal and CSG industries go ahead.
Dramatic footage is shown of the encroachment of mining onto agricultural land, and interviews with Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Bowen Basin and Darling Downs residents illuminate the social, economic, environmental and health impacts of mining in those regions.
The film features many prominent members of the debate against coal expansion in Australia including Guy Pearse (Global Change Institute), Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (University of Queensland) and Matthew Wright (Beyond Zero Emissions).
Bimblebox is artfully shot and features the music of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. The film features landscapes that would be destroyed if the mining expansions go ahead and provides a first-hand glimpse of the growing movement against the expansions.
This is our fight, because it may not be dug up right here, but Australia is on the verge of an unprecedented coal boom. The epicentre of this expansion is the yet to be developed Galilee Basin in Central Queensland. Galilee is the proposed site for a series of mega mines that will cause Australia’s coal exports to more than double within a decade.
Cape York Peninsula is also targeted for coal expansion, including the Wongai underground mine which includes a new port near Princess Charlotte Bay, 150km northwest of Cooktown.
Coal expansion in Queensland is threatening the integrity and safety of the Great Barrier Reef system and the $5.1 billion reef tourism industry. Our reef tourism directly employs 54,000 people and supports numerous communities along the Queensland coast. Plans for six new coal and gas port developments and two major coal seam gas plants include seabed dredging of millions of cubic metres, 22 million of these already approved to be dumped in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
Major new infrastructure is proposed along almost the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area – from Gladstone to Cape York. Expansion of existing coal terminals is under way at Hay Point and Abbot Point. New coal terminals are proposed at Wiggins Island, Raglan Creek, Balaclava Island, Dudgeon Point, Abbot Point and Cape York (Greenpeace).
