They stood out a proverbial country mile against Friday’s grey, rainy sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group of demonstrators stationed out front of Castlemaine’s National Australia Bank may have been small in number \u2013 due to COVID-compliance \u2013 but was just as big on determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re just ordinary local citizens calling on the NAB to stop its investment of literally billions of dollars in oil and gas fossil fuel projects,” Castlemaine’s Malcolm Robins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Every child deserves to thrive in a safe climate but NAB is undermining our children’s future by financing oil and gas companies during a climate crisis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of 350.org’s wider Adopt a Bank campaign, Friday’s demonstration was motivated by a deep groundswell of community concern about the unthinkable prospect of runaway climate change and its projected impacts on agriculture, extreme weather events, natural disaster frequency and the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Robins said Friday’s was the first in an ongoing series of planned local demonstrations and joined others nationwide.
“I’m running a local campaign on behalf of 350.0rg and we’re now moving the campaign onto the next phase which is a physical presence,” he said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are COVID-safe and we are not touching any item of bank property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The bottom line is that right now, the NAB board is making a decision about whether to continue to invest in oil and gas.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“With enough public pressure, we can pressure the NAB Board and CEO Ross McEwan to make the right call.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Castlemaine demonstrators stationed themselves outside the bank from 10am to 12.30am on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“NAB likes to talk up its actions to tackle climate change but in reality it’s greenwash and they’re continuing to fund climate destruction,” Mr Robins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This demonstration at the front of the bank is the first in a series of three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They stood out a proverbial country mile against Friday’s grey, rainy sky. The group of demonstrators stationed out front of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[124,3281,1293],"ppma_author":[5230],"class_list":["post-9196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-latest-news","tag-castlemaine","tag-national-australia-bank","tag-school-strike-for-climate-ss4c"],"yoast_head":"\n
They told the\u00a0Midland Express\u00a0<\/em>that come rain or shine they’ll be back, same time, same place this Friday as well.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Between 2016 and 2019 NAB lent more than $1 billion to projects that expand the polluting gas industry, risking local communities, our climate and our future.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’ll be back again next Friday October 8 and we’ll also be back on October 15 when we will be joining with the next School Strike for Climate event on that day.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"