ADANI PROTEST HITS TREE FIRM
WORKERS from a Townsville vegetation management company were unable to enter their office yesterday after it was blockaded by anti-adani protesters.
However, the protesters’ claim that Eastern Tree Services had signed a contract with Adani to clear a large expanse of trees for its mine have been rubbished, while an ETS spokesman said the branch had been on a day off anyway.
Up to 20 protesters blockaded the ETS entrance in Garbutt from about 6am yesterday, demanding the Victoria-based company, which has branches across Australia, tear up its supposed contract with Adani.
The protesters claimed ETS had been contracted by Adani to put in firebreaks as part of its rail line.
Adani had previously planned to build a 388km standard-gauge railway between the Galilee Basin and Abbot Point Port, but will instead leverage existing rail infrastructure and build a narrow-gauge line that will be about 200km.
But the ETS spokesman said the company’s only link to Adani was a contract with Abbot Point Port to carry out routine maintenance on an existing firebreak along the fence line of the terminal. The fire break is said to be about 2km long.
“We are not engaged to do work on any new or existing rail lines or at the proposed new mine,” the spokesman said.
Protesters also showed up at other ETS sites, including the company’s Victorian headquarters.
Stop Adani’s Ben Pennings said he had spoken to the ETS chief executive, who had not ruled out accepting Adani contracts.
“If Eastern Tree Services don’t rule out clearing endangered bushland for Adani’s train line to nowhere, we’ll be all over them like a rash that never stops itching,” he said.
An Adani Australia spokeswoman said protesters should be held accountable for disrupting a private business based on incorrect information.
“Once again we are seeing acti- vist and anti-coal groups peddle misinformation in an attempt to create hysteria based on myths,” she said.
“Had the group checked its facts, it would have found that the business which it caused disruption to today is not a contractor for the Carmichael project.
“We recognise there are varied opinions about the Carmichael project, but when groups such as this disrupt private businesses, impacting employees and their families based on incorrect information, they should be held accountable.”