Climate action group Rising Tide Newcastle has released a website that spoofs the NSW Minerals Council’s new advertising campaign, which claims the state’s mining companies are “world class”.
Rising Tide’s parody uses a similar layout and design to the NSW Minerals Council website, but points to the industry’s poor track record in the areas of environment, community, economy, health and innovation.
For example, the Minerals Council website says: “We aim to minimise our impact on the land at each step of mining, from exploration, which gives us important scientific information on the geology of an area, to mining activities and regeneration.”
The parody website responds: “The mining industry has many negative impacts on the environment. It pollutes water systems and destroys forests and bushland, impacting on endangered and threatened species.
“Most significantly, the greenhouse emissions from mining and burning coal is the single biggest factor contributing to climate change, which is the most pressing threat to biodiversity and human communities.”
Rising Tide spokesperson and website creator Ned Haughton said he created the spoof website because “communities are fed up with the mining industry’s spin campaigns".
He said: “Anxious to secure their place in a carbon-constrained world, the mining industry is increasingly resorting to spin tactics and propaganda campaigns to try and resurrect their flailing image. The community knows that spending money on public relations is not going to fix the poor environmental and community track record of the industry.
“Time and again, the NSW mining industry has damaged communities, polluted rivers, destroyed biodiversity and prime agricultural land and created health issues in surrounding communities. If this is “world class”, what does that say about the industry globally?
“The impacts of the industry are real, unlike the spin of the Minerals Council.”
[Visit the NSW Minerals Council website here and the parody website here.]