The fight against the Adani coal mine in Queensland has dominated winners of the sixth annual Bob Brown Foundation awards announced this week.
The winners are people who took “remarkably courageous stands against the massive and unfair power of the Adani corporation and its political backers,” the foundation said.
“Their stand for Aboriginal heritage has enfolded their stand for both the Galilee Basin and the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef. Based on their love of place, they have had the gumption to take on Adani where ministers of the environment and indigenous heritage at both state and federal levels failed.”
Adrian Burragubba has won Environmentalist of the Year and $5000 prize money. He has “galvanised Australia with his unrelenting defence of country, against this obscene coal mine proposal, for the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners,” the foundation said in a media statement.
Murrawah Maroochy Johnson has been awarded Young Environmentalist of the Year with $2000 prize money, after adding her “outstanding voice in defence of country on behalf of the Traditional Owners Family Council”.
Reef Defenders won the Community Environment Prize and $2000 prize money. It has been a “clarion community voice, acting locally and in Brisbane to defend the Birri and Widi country embracing the Caley Wetlands and directly threatened region of the Great Barrier Reef. “
Giles Parkinson, the developer of RenewEconomy.com.au, was awarded the Deni Greene Award with $2000 prize “in view of these winners’ stand against Adani” as a professional working to enhance Australia’s environment.”