As 350.org has noted, "If this project goes ahead, it will unlock one of the world's biggest carbon bombs."
"We are parents and grandparents, tourism operators and farmers, traditional owners and conservationists from all parts of Australia," said Sandra Williams, a resident who participated in the protest. "The community is saying no to this project. Not here, not now, not ever."
The action comes as the UN World Heritage Committee prepares to meet in Bonn, Germany, next week to discuss threats to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system. Adani wants to dig up the coal reserves of the Galilee Basin and construct a massive new coal export port at Abbot Point in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area—a plan conservationists have long opposed.
"For years now, people everywhere have been raising their voices and taking action to stop the Galilee mines and Abbot Point port expansion from going ahead," reads a statement on the Reef Defenders Alliance website. "Court cases have been mounted, submissions have been lodged, petitions have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures, financiers have been reasoned with, experts have warned of the huge financial and environmental risks, global investment banks have walked away, yet the projects march onwards. Our leaders are failing us."
The Queensland government is preparing to submit the controversial dredging project to the Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt for approval.
Representatives of the Abbot Point port refused to meet the demonstrators when they arrived.
Though no arrests were made, organizers said they would not be deterred and suggested more actions were on the horizon. In a press statement, they warned that Monday's protest "foreshadows a sustained campaign of civil disobedience against construction of the controversial project, which has already been ranked as having the third highest reputation risk of any project on the planet."
As Aunty Carol Prior said, "We are standing together, united as one, to protect Mother Earth. Mother Earth--our environment--is my culture, my heritage, and my Aboriginality."
See photos of the protest below:
