Sydney Knitting Nannas & Friends held a rally in Sydney on March 17 against the expansion of coal and gas mining. Nannas are particularly outraged by governments continuing to prop up coal and gas companies by spending taxpayer dollars to subsidise these industries.
Nannas and their friends marched to the beat of drums from the NSW Minerals Council’s offices in O’Connell St, to Parliament House in Sydney, while chanting “No taxpayer money for coal and gas”. The police kindly stopped traffic as they crossed roads, following the footsteps chalked onto the footpath.
There are only 500 footsteps between the Minerals Council and the parliament. Speeches pointed out the close relationship between the two. Live music entertained the people in Martin Place and delicious ice cream, supplied by Ben and Jerry’s, was free to marchers .
When the Independent Planning Commission rejected the Rocky Hill coal mine in 2019, the NSW Minerals Council called for the abolition of the Commission. The NSW government held a quick in-house review and made changes to the IPC’s authority. Since then the government recommended all the following projects be approved by the IPC and they were.
| Project | Life of project GHG emissions million tonnes | Date | |
| 1 | Maxwell Underground Project | 337 | Dec 20 |
| 2 | Russel Vale (Sydney catchment) | 11 | Dec 20 |
| 3 | Narrabri Gas Project | 128 | Sep 20 |
| 4 | Vickery Coal Project (new mine) | 370 | Aug 20 |
| 5 | Rix Creek South Mine (expansion) | 73 | Oct 19 |
| 6 | United Wambo (new mine) | 266 | Aug 19 |
| Total | 1185 |
This is why your Nannas are cranky!
Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends call for
- No taxpayer money for coal and gas
- Ban political donations especially from fossil fuel industry
- Protect water land and nature
- Governments to break up with fossil fools
- No more coal and gas approvals
- Governments to act now to reduce climate change
We’ll be back outside parliament for the last day of parliament on Thursday 24 March.
Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends 