MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday 7ND March 2017

Mayor to use ratepayer funds for Junket to India

Today on Australia’s premier island resort at the heart of our Great Barrier Reef, Whitsunday Regional Council voted to fund a trip to India for Mayor Wilcox to learn more about Adani’s plans for the Galilee Basin.

Justification for this international info session is yet to be validated, as Mr Jeyakumar Janakaraj, CEO and Country Head of Adani Australia based in Brisbane, is always available for the Whitsundays Mayor to contact directly regarding information about Adani’s plans. Mr Janakaraj will also be in Moranbah on March 30 to deliver a presentation - another opportunity for Mayor Wilcox to receive information about Adani’s plans for our region.

This ratepayer funded junket highlights yet another negative in the long list of irreversible impacts Adani’s proposals will have on the region.

The economic basis of the Whitsundays relies on a healthy Reef for tourism, clean water and air for agriculture spanning the salad bowl of Bowen, the cane fields of Proserpine and the grazing industry in the west of the shire.

The imagined economic benefits promised by the coal industry bring direct threats to our Reef and the weather patterns that our crops rely on; it is not an industry that our council should invest in or depend on to support our community.

It is not a fair and proper use of ratepayers money to send our Mayor on an international trip that in reality could be achieved locally. There is adequate opportunity for our council to receive information about Adani’s plans in Queensland, if council wishes to do so.

Our council should be supporting long-term economically viable industries, such as solar farming at Collinsville, one of the worst hit areas for job losses. Instead of dead-end industries like coal mining our council should support long term projects that employ locals, enhance local economies and protect our Reef.

Media contact: Maggie McKeown on 0434 837 774