With regards to Angus Taylor’s visit to the Tahmoor coal mine this morning, Jamie Hanson, Head of Campaigns at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said:“Across the country, hundreds of people’s lives have been changed forever by these fires, in some of the most tragic possible circumstances.
“The Morrison government’s misreading of the mood remains astonishing. We are living through national trauma – and their response was first a jaunt to Hawaii, and now the weird sight of Angus Taylor reopening a coal mine in the literal midst of this climate emergency.
“Morrison, Taylor, and many members of their government seem incapable of putting the safety of Australian families ahead of their obsession with the fossil fuel industry. If they could, they’d be taking the steps that are required – preparing Australian communities and health and emergency services for escalating fire danger, and rapidly phasing out the mining and burning of coal.
“Good firefighting and luck ensured that the community dodged a bullet with Tahmoor – if it had burned, the Picton and Campbelltown areas may have been polluted with the toxic pollution for weeks from burning coal, including carbon monoxide, toxic fine particles and mercury.”
For more information please contact Communications Manager Nelli Stevenson on 0428 113 346 or email [email protected]