Environmental lobby group Greenpeace has recruited well-known cartoon fish Nemo in its latest efforts to turn the public against the expansion of a major Queensland coal port and associated coalmine that threatens the future of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.
A new ad released today by Greenpeace aims to turn public opinion against the expansion of the Abbot Point coal port and the go-ahead of the Carmichael coal mine in Queesland.
It features a ‘Nemo’ fish circling his watery home inside a kitchen blender, and ‘Nemo” faces a grim fate if a decision is made to flick the power switch.
Multi-award winning actor Richard Roxburgh has voiced the 30-second TV ad as part of Greenpeace’s Save the Reef campaign.
Greenpeace said the new advertisement urged Australians to “face up to the precarious future of the Great Barrier Reef, by likening Nemo’s home to a fish in a blender”.
The organisation says a similarly disastrous outcome awaits the Great Barrier Reef if Queensland’s Carmichael mega mine and dredging for the related port expansion at Abbot Point is allowed to proceed.
“The expansion of Abbot Point means dredging around three million tonnes of sea floor to clear the way for thousands of extra coal ships through the Great Barrier Reef,” said Greenpeace program director Ben Pearson.
“Right now, (conservative Liberal-National) Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s finger is on the button.
“If he presses go, the consequences for Australia’s most precious natural place will be dramatic.”
To be operated by Indian conglomerate Adani, the Carmichael mine would be the biggest ever seen in Australia, including six open cut pits and five underground mines.
Greenpeace points out that measuring 28,000 hectares, five times the area of Sydney Harbour, the mine will also extract billions of litres of water every year from local rivers and aquifers.
Burning the coal that would be extracted would produce four times the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand, Greenpeace said.
