Nanna Keelah wins an award, plug in solar for renters and apartments, join Nannas at Parliament House, and more Nanna activities.
NSW Environment Awards
Nanna Keelah Lam won the Nature NSW Dunphy Award for an individual, demonstrating outstanding commitment to the conservation of NSW Environment on 30 October.
Keelah has spent her lifetime living her beliefs in sustainability, social justice and peace. Joining the ‘Poo Marches’ against raw sewage discharge at North Head, she helped push better sewage treatment onto the agenda, then founded the Manly Waste Action Group. She served as the NCC representative on the EPA State Waste Advisory Council and sat on the successful Container Deposit citizens jury, before coordinating the community-owned Manly Food Co-op for fifteen years. She has continued educating the community on everything from nappy-free toilet training to campaigning against waste-to-energy proposals and, most recently, advocating for Zero Waste Legislation: and Extended Producer Responsibility.
Keelah is an active member of the Sydney Knitting Nannas and an inspiration to us all. At the age of 83 she continues to protest, educate, advocate by public speaking, write submissions and meet with MPs. Keelah has trained us all: no keep cup — no coffee! But she’s always prepared with spare keep cups to lend to Nannas who need one.
Plug in Solar and Batteries – Free Webinar
Thursday 5 November 12noon-1pm AEDT
Speakers: the Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and solar and battery industry experts will tell us what needs to change to make sure plug-in solar and batteries can be safely operated.
Help build the call for plug-in solar and batteries to be legally available in Australia sooner rather than later! Four million + homes in Australia are powered by rooftop solar. Find out what it will take for renters and apartments to get access to this game-changing technology that’s now widely and safely used in the UK and Europe. Register here.
Join us outside Parliament House – protest the Premier’s coal bill
Nannas will join with Lock the Gate outside parliament on Tuesday 10 November between 11.30am and 12. 30pm to call on the government to withdraw their bill to allow Mt Pleasant Coal mine to increase production by 30%.
Premier Chris Minns’ bill follows the High Court ruling that downstream emissions were not properly assessed when the mining expansion and extensions was approved. The government plan is to make a special law for MACH Energy which would by-pass the state’s planning process and to defy the High Court’s decision.
We will be rallying as parliament resumes for what could be the final two sitting weeks before the March election. Legal experts and the climate movement have expressed very serious concerns with the proposed legislation. They point to how abnormal it would be to make a special law for a company in response to a High Court decision, as well as the climate damage caused by the additional emissions.
This proposed legislation calls for a strong response from all of us. Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan will travel from Muswellbrook to speak in defence of their court win against MACH Energy. Please join us on Macquarie Street dressed in black.
Minns MACH Energy bill is Un-Australian – RSVP Lock the Gate
4nature v Centennial Coal Mine in Lithgow
Nannas spent the morning of 26 October in the Land and Environment Court, knee deep in legalese, trying to untangle the knot of dates, conditions, lapses, sections, modifications and consents in the 4nature v Centennial Coal case.
4nature argues that the approval for Centennial’s mothballed Angus Place coal mine near Lithgow expired in August 2024 and rehabilitation was required by that date. Rehabilitation has not occurred and the company continues to pump toxic mine water into the Coxs River, an important source of Sydney’s drinking water.
In October 2025, the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) approved Centennial Coal’s application to modify its development consent, which effectively permits the mine to defer rehabilitation to an unspecified date.
4nature has taken legal action to overturn the IPC decision and to seek court orders requiring the company to develop and implement a rehabilitation plan within 12 months. A decision is expected before the end of the year.
Media Releases:
11 February 2026 – Legal action launched to ensure rehabilitation of coal mine discharging into Sydney’s water (EDO)
26 October 2026 – Legal action against ‘closed’ coal mine that’s still wrecking protected landscapes (NCC)
Big Coal Water – Product Launch
Available NOW, on tap, for everyone in the Blue Mountains and Sydney basin!
Drawn straight from the Coxs River, just downstream from coal mining and fly ash discharge points! Current salinity readings are 4.5 to 8.5 times the levels needed for aquatic life!
This toxic mine water requires action by the NSW Government – an action promised before the last election. Our drinking water requires the protection of the NorBE — a snazzy name for the Neutral or Beneficial Effects Assessment.
Once fans of the NorBE, the government seems to have forgotten the protection it would offer! By continuing to approve expansions to mining, the floodgate for toxic mining discharge is wide open — coal mines simply have no standards to meet!
To find out more, go to the Protect Gardens of Stone, 4nature or the Nature Conservation Council.
Nannas greet ANZ staff
Nannas Cathy and Marie were outside the ANZ HQ in Sydney on 27 October to hand out leaflets to ANZ staff on their way to work. The leaflets explained why ANZ is facing widespread criticism for not ruling out funding the North to East Australia Pipeline (NEAP), a pipeline that would unleash widespread gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory.
On Wednesday Rising Tide members held a “die-in” inside the bank’s HQ to highlight why the NEAP must not go ahead. They maintained the protest for 90 minutes and there were no arrests.
ANZ customers can call on the bank to rule out funding the NEAP by calling 1800 805 154.
Health and climate change
Nanna Alex attended the launch of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) Lancet Countdown on health and climate change ahead of COP31. It tracks how Australia is responding to the health threats and impacts of climate change.
“Analyses show that exposure of infants and older adults to heatwaves in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand has increased substantially over the past decade due to climate change, and half of the 16,230 young Australians aged 14–19 years surveyed reported that they are worried or sad about the impacts of climate change.”
“In conclusion, the threat to physical and mental health from climate change continues to grow.”
Meeting with Kobi Shetty MP
Six Nannas who live in the Balmain electorate visited their Greens MP Kobi Shetty in Glebe on 27 October. They acknowledged it’s a difficult time to be a politician and an appreciation for Kobi’s work and accessibility.
Nannas were in the gallery to support Kobi’s Lobbying of Government Officials (Access and Influence) Bill 2026 introduced to the parliament in September. It was not passed and the government has now brought a weaker bill to the parliament. Nannas support amendments to strengthen the bill, especially around proper and timely disclosure of ministerial meetings and meetings with government officials.
As a Greens MP Kobi is concerned about the harms and risks of data centres, and sees little to no community benefit in them. Two local proposals are on Cooks River and in the Southern Highlands. But the success of the community campaign against the huge Project Mars data centre on the Lane Cove river shows that effective community opposition can stop them.
The Great Southern Forest National Park is a priority for Greens next year.
Waste
A NSW parliamentary inquiry into waste-to-energy facilities has advised that two incinerator proposals in Parkes and Goulburn should be halted pending an independent review. The NSW government has until early 2027 to respond to the inquiry’s 22 recommendations. (ABC News)
Backlash from small businesses and News Corp Australia caused the government to backflip on its plan to force cafes to offer customers who dine in the option of mugs and glasses instead of takeaway cups. It also ditched a law requiring businesses to participate in a reusable cup scheme or risk a fine up to $110,000. Sydney’s landfill capacity is projected to run out by 2030. (The Guardian)
Fossil fuels and children
Peabody wants to expand its Illawarra coal mine into the Sydney drinking-water catchment underneath the Woronora Reservoir, destroying endangered swamps.
Recently a Nanna discovered that Peabody’s community propaganda and greenwashing includes a focus on children. At the Helensburg country market on 24 October the Nanna visited the Peabody stall, which was there to promote the expansion of their local mine. It drew children in with give-away bags of lollies, a spin the wheel game, drawing materials, a guessing game about how much a barrel of coal weighed, and free Peabody logo hats.
MACH Energy is the company behind the Mount Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter. In its 2025 and 2026 community consultation reports, it says it will “continue working with school children, primary and high schools and local TAFE leaders to promote education and discuss possible opportunities to influence curriculum or extracurricular activities.”
Its community newsletters run a “Kid’s Corner,” where children can colour in Santa driving an excavator or count lumps of coal. There are “fun facts” about coal with no mention of climate change and the health risks of coal pollution. (Sydney Morning Herald)
NSW bans tobacco, alcohol and gambling sponsorships from schools, but there are no limits on fossil fuel companies. The ACT bans them, and a NSW parliamentary committee recommended in August that the Government do the same.
From Cradle to Career is a report on the influence of fossil fuel companies on children and young adults in our education institutions. Policy loopholes allow private companies to reach our kids in the very places they should be protected.
Fossil fuel marketing does not belong in classrooms and educational institutions.
Tell the NSW Government to deliver a fair deal to protect communities and to move on from coal – Parents for Climate petition
Nannas are watching
Nannas are reading
Climate misinformation spreads faster than scientific evidence. This website was created to provide clear, well-researched responses to the arguments most commonly used to deny or downplay climate change. Busting Climate Myths
Endangered turtles and ‘exceptional’ coral at risk from Woodside’s gas drilling in WA, watchdog says (The Guardian)
What makes a winning environmental campaign? We studied six decades of activism to find out (The Conversation)
Can Creative Hobbies Actually Change the World? (Literary hub)
Fresh Aboriginal protection claims over part of McPhillamys Gold Project (ABCNews)
Forthcoming Events