SYDNEY - A Rising Tide protestor was dragged from the Australian Financial Review Asia Summit this morning after disrupting a Q&A session with ANZ CEO, Nuno Matos.
Zack Schofield, interrupted Matos’s opening remarks by getting up on stage to call out ANZ for being the only bank to not rule out funding the North East Australia Pipeline (NEA Pipeline), which would enable large-scale fracking of the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory. He was dragged from the stage by security.
Footage from the action can be found here.
Schofield addressed the room with a sarcastic speech: “I feel compelled to raise a toast to Nuno Matos, the man who is the CEO of ANZ. The only man with the courage to fund the NEA [North East Australia] Pipeline and unlock fracking in the Beetaloo Basin. We all want to destroy the planet, but Nuno’s found a way to make a buck out of it. Isn’t that great! There’s only one planet and Nuno’s found a way to destroy it and make some profit.”
After Schofield was removed, Matos responded to an apology from the moderator, saying: “No worries, it’s part of the job.”
Schofield said: “We’re staring down the barrel of an unprecedented El Nino off the back of a devastating Northern Hemisphere Summer. ANZ says it takes the climate crisis seriously, yet it won’t rule out enabling destructive new mega-projects which are driving the crisis.
“People in the Territory have been fighting Beetaloo for years, and it all comes down to whether banks like ANZ will fund infrastructure like the NEA Pipeline.
"I'd like to remind Matos that his job is to deliver on ANZ's stated commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, not finance climate bombs that will put all our futures in peril."
Media contact:
Zack Schofield 0427 449 696
Background
Today’s protest is part of a national campaign from Rising Tide, calling on ANZ to publicly rule out funding the NEA Pipeline. Past actions from Rising Tide can be found on Rising Tide's social media here.
ANZ is the only one of Australia's big four banks that has not ruled out funding the pipeline. ANZ is also the biggest funder of fossil fuels among Australian banks.
The NEA pipeline would unlock fracking the Beetaloo basin. Fracking projects in the Beetaloo basin would release 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2e emissions. The NEA Pipeline would transport fracked gas from the Northern Territory to Gladstone LNG export terminal on the east coast. Recent analysis shows that up to 83% of the fracked gas is slated for export. Annual embodied emissions from Beetaloo fracking would be equivalent to 11% of Australia's total annual emissions.
The protest occurs in the wake of a day of nationwide action, led by a large community protest in Darwin. This wave of snap actions is in to an announcement that frackers have drawn first gas from the Beetaloo Basin.
