For too long, the Minerals Council and other industry lobby groups have held politicians hostage so they could continue to hoard wealth and profit from climate breakdown

The Minerals Council is funded by member companies who collectively pay millions in membership fees to fund its work.

To do that, there’s three parts to the campaign:

1. Call on companies to cut all ties

The Minerals Council is made up of 43 member organisations that pay fees so that the Minerals Council can lobby, advertise and speak out on their behalf. Some of these companies claim to be supportive of ambitious action on climate change, others are coal miners who oppose meaningful action.

The truth is, when groups like the Minerals Council oppose action on climate change, they are serving their coal mining members at the expense of other miners that don’t drive the climate crisis. They spend millions to water down climate policy when they could be advocating for the mining industry to power the 21st century renewable energy economy.

Together we’ll call on companies like Rio Tinto and PriceWaterhouseCoopers to cancel their memberships on climate grounds. You can adopt one of their offices to chat to their staff as they head into work, you could put posters on their walk from the train station, and you could host regular actions out the front of their office.

Download a guide to adopting an office here.

2. Call on politicians to cut all ties 

Right now, the revolving door between coal companies, the coal lobby, the public service and parliament is spinning out of control. Together we can expose the ties and call on all politicians to refuse to take money from these groups, or meet with them until they stop blocking action on climate change.

Call on your politician to cut all ties with the coal lobby by signing the petition here.

3. Expose the truth about their dirty tactics

Although there is a distrust of politicians and the mining industry in Australia, not many people know how insidious and dangerous the coal lobby is. Together we can bring their dark dealings into the light.

As more people and institutions find out how damaging the coal lobby is and how they continue to hold back action on climate change, the power of these groups will diminish – the media will expose their dirty tactics, politicians will start feeling safe to speak out and more members will feel compelled to leave. Just like tobacco and guns in the past, we’ll make the coal lobby toxic to associate with.

Click here to read and share the Dirt File.

If we can get just a handful of high profile companies and politicians  to cut all ties with the coal lobby, they’ll have less money to advertise their toxic product, which will make waves in the industry. 

We’ll support those who stand on the right side of history, and hold to account those who don’t.

Anyone, anywhere can take action in their community: 

  • You could set up a group that calls on your local arts festival, sports club, science fair or university course to cut all ties with the coal lobby and it’s members – here’s a handy guide.
  • With Rio Tinto as our first target, you can “Adopt an Office” and talk to their staff, hold eye catching actions out the front and compel them to cut all ties with the Minerals Council.
  • You could send Rio Tinto a message on Facebook telling them to cut all ties with the Minerals Council.
  • You could talk to your local MP about your concerns about the influence of the fossil fuel lobby and see what information you can get from them.
  •  You could organise local businesses to pledge not to do business with members of the Minerals Council until they stop blocking action on climate change
  • What else? We’d love to hear from you. How do you think we can dismantle the power of the coal lobby so we can take back our democracy and get on with real climate action?

Find out more at cutallties.org.au