Businesses who boycott resources may face backlash

Too many companies, with their headquarters in the cities, are moralising and want to be viewed as socially wise, writes Renee Viellaris

Protesters at the Adani Blockade. Picture: John Gass

QUEENSLAND’S resources sector supports more than 372,500 direct and indirect jobs - if you are one of those workers, ask yourself, does your bank, insurance and utility provider support your industry, or are they sabotaging it?

Big business and lenders are buckling to - or have gleefully joined - the activists trying to shut down Adani and thermal coal mines.

For hundreds of thousands of workers in Queensland, that’s putting workers, families and smaller businesses at risk.

If you value your job, your home and your prosperity, it’s time to put these companies under the blowtorch. Why bank, insure or use services from business that will take your money but at the same time actively refuse to lend or invest in the resources industry?

For all those Queenslanders who told Bob Brown’s convoy (which was primarily used to raise money from southern donors rather than funnel more votes to the Greens), that they did not need a blow-in to tell them what job they could have, for all those Queenslanders who don’t feel ashamed about working in resources, and for all those Queenslanders who believe business should just stick to what they should be doing, it may be time to change banks, insurance companies or utility providers.

Maybe it’s time for more almost 400,000 Queenslanders to park their money and faith with businesses that support their future. Interest rates may not be your biggest problem - it may be your bank’s virtue signalling.

Yes, companies must price in risk. They have a responsibility to shareholders and the world is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. And moving towards a low-carbon economy is the right thing to do, but it has to be measured, sensible and done without emotion.

Anti-Adani protestors at the BMD construction site at the Haughton River.

But too many companies, with their headquarters in the cities, are moralising and want to be viewed as socially wise. They are not being solely motivated by economic decisions but by peer-pressured obsession that is favoured by Hollywood A-listers, the rich and idealists.

If business refuse to lend or invest in a project, then customers have every right to push back.

In one example, a bank has refused to lend money to a contractor who wanted to supply food and drink to Adani workers in Central and North Queensland. Not because they could not afford to repay the loan, but because Adani has become the anti-Christ for activists.

What a joke! This just shows how damaging this issue has become. That company should take their banking elsewhere and shame that lender for being gutless zealots.

It has become pathetic and will go further than thermal coal. The vegans are putting agriculture at risk and there will always be something next.

The Bank of Queensland AGM room set-up at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane on Thursday, November 30, 2017. (AAP Image/Claudia Baxter)

GUN SHY

Take the Bank of Queensland, which recently was outed by The Courier-Mail for refusing to re-lend to a customer who worked in a lawful gun shop because it fell outside its “risk appetite”. It wasn’t about that particularly worker or retailer, it was just that the bank believes it was an industry frequently associated with criminal organisations.

It is an unbelievable position to take because farmers rely on their guns in Queensland.

But BOQ is also on the climate change bandwagon, stating on its website, “in 2018 BOQ committed to cease funding equipment directly involved in the extraction of fossil fuels. The terms of current lending facilities do not exceed five years, which means BOQ will have no exposure to fossil fuel extraction equipment by the end of 2023”.

So the Bank of Queensland is shunning the very industry that is helping so many mums and dads pay off their homeloans and credit cards. Doesn’t seem like it supports Queensland very much does it? Maybe it should relocate to Victoria.

In another example, a major bank had intended to refuse to provide its long-running services to a Queensland company providing services on Nauru because noisy shareholders don’t like the Coalition’s border protection policies. It later backed down.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at the Queensland Resources Council Annual Lunch at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane on November 1, 2019. Darren England

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

When Scott Morrison gave his speech to the Queensland Resources Council lunch on Friday, he had some very strong words about impending laws.

It was misinterpreted by many. He was not talking about those who superglue themselves to the road, he was talking about the activists who engage in secondary boycotts - where too often the collateral damage are mum and dad businesses.

It’s where activists block the entrances to truck businesses, which are working for Adani and other resource companies. It’s where they threaten to target small businesses in towns if they take on a contract with Adani or other miners.

There is a tree-lopping business in North Queensland that wanted to work for Adani but was warned by activists they would be on its hit-list if they did. That business could not afford security and didn’t want the pain. So it lost revenue and lost the ability to hire more workers in an area with high unemployment.

Protesters at the Adani Blockade. Picture: John Gass

Does Labor’s Anthony Albanese support that type of behaviour?

Adani and other miners use local suppliers. If those local suppliers buckle to pressure, it does not mean the mines stop. It just means Adani and others will be forced to source products and services from overseas.

And that means fewer jobs for locals and less money flowing through local economies.