Galilee Blockade is campaigning to force Allianz, a giant German insurance company, to withdraw its support for the controversial Adani-owned Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland.
Allianz is one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Earlier, Allianz had joined an alliance of international companies with a public policy of not supporting fossil fuel projects. However Allianz has recently bought PIMCO, a finance company, which is one of Adani's largest financiers.
Galilee Blockade together with Market Forces have taken on the task of pressuring Allianz to force PIMCO to withdraw their money from Adani's thermal coal mine.
PIMCO is funding the rail link from the Carmichael mine and the coal port at Abbot Point. PIMCO claims the right to act independently.
Protestors decided to inform staff at Allianz what the insurance company is doing behind closed doors.
On November 13, activists from Galilee Blockade held a 16-metre banner outside the Allianz Sydney headquarters. A letter asking Allianz to stop its subsidiary PIMCO from funding the Adani mine was handed over.
The banner was also held over the walkway to Darling Harbour so that it was visible to Allianz office workers before the protesters headed PIMCO's office in Martin Place.
Polling shows two-thirds of Australians are opposed to the Adani coal mine.
Yet Adani has ignored public opinion and bankrupted traditional owners, broken environment laws, drained precious groundwater, bulldozed important species habitat, threatens the Great Barrier Reef and is suing community protesters for millions of dollars.
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