On 2nd (& 3rd) May 2014, 350.org Fossil Free Australia is organising a national day of divestment action. Customers with accounts at the major banks (Australia & New Zealand Bank, Westpac Bank, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank) will be, en masse, closing their accounts. This is because these banks (and others) are financing new fossil fuel projects in Australia and abroad. This, in turn, is feeding into anthropogenic climate change.
Divestment Day has prompted this forum so members can be better informed of the divestment movement. The following speakers will do short presentations followed by open discussion:
John Anderson, a Senior Lecturer in Finance at UNE, will talk about markets and how they work;
Richard Stayner (Rural Futures) who will speak about the Divestment campaign re Uni Super and University assets;
Kim Kilpatrick a local therapist, who will speak personally about why she is moving from the ANZ bank.
SLA’s Open Forum, will be held on Thursday 3rd April at 7pm at Kent House, 141 Faulkner Street, opposite Central Park. Everyone is welcome, light refreshments to follow. Gold coin donation appreciated.
Dear all,
I consider this to be one of the biggest events in my lifetime. By having each of us i.e. the “little people” close accounts with the big banks, most of the money they have is no longer accessible to them. Due to something technically known as ‘fractional reserve banking’, this has a multiplicative effect on the loans which the big banks can make e.g. to fossil fuel based companies.
The alternative is smallness. Financial institutions such as local credit unions tend to keep their loans small. As such, they are unable (and, going by their longevity, unwilling) to loan money to large multinational corporations. History has shown that the latter tends to come into an area and, while they may provide short term benefits, there are also short term costs. The long term – generally after the corporation has packed up – is pretty much “all cost and no benefit”.
My kudos to 350.org Fossil Free Australia for organising this divestment day action and to Sustainable Living Armidale for this monthly forum at this time. I will be attending “with bells on”.
Best regards,
Tom Livanos.
Armidale, New South Wales.
Friday 28 March 2014.
tom.369@hotmail.com