On Monday night, under the cover of darkness, hundreds of young people covered Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth with a new message that is impossible for the Westpac bank to ignore. So many of you chipped in to clap back at Westpac after we walked out of the pointless meeting they called last week. And boy did we give Westpac a headache. The stickers, the posters, the chalking and the infamous ATM screens meant our message was unmissable in every CBD across the country as thousands of Westpac staff arrived at work on Tuesday morning. Westpac know that while they continue to invest in fossil fuels, they’ll continue to lose their reputation with their customers and the public as “the world’s most sustainable bank,” and actions led by young people will only continue.
So we’ve got to keep the pressure up. They’re currently writing a new sustainability policy and we’ve got a small window of opportunity to make sure it includes no funding for Adani’s coal projects.
Next week is their 200th birthday - their biggest marketing moment of the year - if we can make as much noise as possible about their continued investments in fossil fuels, we can push them to make the right decision about Adani before June.
There are 3 things you can do right now to amplify our message to Westpac:
Write on Westpac’s wall or hit them up on Twitter asking them why they still haven’t ruled out financing Adani’s coal mine (if you’re a customer, be sure to mention that!)
“Celebrate” Westpac’s 200th birthday with us, get involved in a week of creative stunts during Westpac’s biggest marketing week of the year #StopAdani
Adopt your local Westpac branch - Already 150 bank branches have been “adopted” - visit your local branch with our team of volunteers and talk to bank staff about why you want them to rule out funding for Adani’s coal projects.
We can do this. We’ve done it together before. You, along with our powerful grassroots network of volunteers forced CommBank, NAB, and ANZ to distance themselves from Adani’s dangerous coal projects. We repurposed their brands with the truth, we spoke to their staff, and used countless cheeky tactics to push them to make the right decision.
Now it’s just Westpac. They’ve already invested $643 million in Adani. Together we can stop the flow of money from destroying our shot at a safe climate future.
You and me, we’re going to stop Adani, we’re in this fight every single day together until we win. We know we can create a better future, where communities don’t get destroyed for the sake of a new coal mine, where renewable energy powers our lives, and our generation has a brighter future to look forward to.
Thank you so much for doing everything you can to stop Adani,
Gemma on behalf of the whole AYCC team
P.S. Check out our action-packed video of the night here on Youtube. Share it with your mates so Westpac know that we are everywhere. Share it with your mates so Westpac know that we are everywhere.
Previous coverage
“9,000+ anti-Adani campaigners to occupy work sites, chain themselves to machinery and clog phone lines” - Australia’s biggest green alliance formed to fight Adani's Reef-killing coal mine - Adani hopes to start mining in Queensland in August, state Premier confident - "Miners and other rich developers will have even better tools to divide and conquer us" - Last chance to stand up for indigenous land rights! - Australian banks under mounting pressure to shun coal - First Nations form green energy alliance to beat govt. electricity corruption - Australian Conservation Foundation vs Adani 1 - Australian Conservation Foundation vs Adani – in court today - "One of the vilest racist acts we've seen" - Rallies outside Westpac branches to protest against funding Adani - 1,000 Australians tell Westpac bank to stop funding Adani - Land rights not mining rights - Adani's puppet Turnbull - Adani’s bribery, vandalism, corruption, money laundering - Changing native title law to facilitate 200 km2 monster - The real showdown begins - ‘This will dwarf the Franklin blockade’
