This prompted Hogsback to take a closer look at how local this anti-Adani organization actually is and what they are on about.

 

What turned up was an emotively worded website that started with the statement: "Coal kills".

 

Then followed an anti-coal tirade about how evil and dangerous coal is without any mention about how safe the local coal industry is or to its contribution to the national and regional economies.

 

At the bottom of its website it states: "No individual, group, or organisation can vouch for, nor is responsible for, content produced by the movement. For issues arising from individual or community group campaigns, we recommend you contact that individual or community group."

 

Yet immediately below this it states that this is "authorised" by S. LaRocca from The Sunrise Project which has its headquarters in the fashionable Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

 

The Sunrise Project website states: "As is widely acknowledged, the climate crisis is a ‘wicked' problem that requires a society-wide response from governments, business and the community alike."

 

It says it raises funds from donors who share its mission and it then grants funds to other non-government organisations and community groups in line with its objectives.

 

The anti-Adani movement presents itself as a grass roots movement but in reality it is an insidious program of public attitude manipulation designed to push agendas that damage the national interest.   

 

Surry Hills is a long way from the Central Queensland coal fields and from the towns of Mackay and Townsville, who are in desperate need of employment for its youth.

 

The thousands of young people in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne who have been influenced by clever campaigns by groups that stay in the shadows and are not accountable probably do not realise they are doing untold harm to the prospects of other young people in Queensland.

 

While politicians from both sides of politics dance around the issue of support for Adani and the coal industry generally ahead of the federal election, the future of central and north Queensland hangs in abeyance.

 

Hogsback reckons this is too important an issue to be influenced by organisations behind the scenes who are pushing agendas that will lead to lower growth and employment in the region.