Friends of the Earth and ACT NOW PNG! were unable to deliver copies of more than 500 protest letters from Papua New Guinea villagers to mining company Highlands Pacific office in Brisbane Australia today because the company had closed its office. The protest letters request Highlands Pacific to halt dumping toxic waste into the sea.

Friends of the Earth is working with ACT NOW PNG to bring the voices of Papua New Guinea villages and customary land owners to Australia is the lead up to Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, visit to Australia in the coming weeks.

“We are really disappointed,” said spokesperson Iona Reto, “members of the public are rightly concerned that Highlands Pacific wants to dump millions of tons of toxic waste into the sea, but the company doesn’t even have the decency to accept our protest letters.”

Hundreds of farmers in southeast Queensland have vowed to lock their gates to keep coal and gas explorers at bay. Representatives of eight farmers' and residents' organisations joined Friends of the Earth outside the Queensland parliament on Monday to launch the Lock the Gate campaign. They are opposed to miners' plans for up to 40,000 coal seam gas (CSG) wells and massive new coal mines on the rich agricultural lands of the Darling Downs.

Hundreds of farmers in southeast Queensland have vowed to lock their gates to keep coal and gas explorers at bay. Representatives of eight farmers' and residents' organisations joined Friends of the Earth outside the Queensland parliament on Monday to launch the Lock the Gate campaign. They are opposed to miners' plans for up to 40,000 coal seam gas (CSG) wells and massive new coal mines on the rich agricultural lands of the Darling Downs. The farmers say that in the short term, mining companies, protected by state legislation, have extraordinary rights to enter land for exploration and mining, disrupting farm operations. In the longer term, the mining could irreparably harm underground aquifers and degrade land forever.

This morning over 25 concerned citizens have recreated a nature refuge at the entrance of Clive Palmer's office at 380 Queen St, Brisbane, recreating a nature refuge to let him know just what his China First coal project is costing Queensland.

The office building was shut down by police and security in anticipation of the protest. There was no response from Waratah Coal, which is owned by Clive Palmer.

The protest was held to support the owners of the Bimblebox Nature Refuge, near Alpha that is set to be destroyed if Clive Palmer's “China First” coal project goes ahead.

Spokesperson for the group, Eleanor Smith from Friend of the Earth said “It's crazy in this time of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change that we would put our natural heritage at risk for dirty coal mines”

“We're here to tell Clive Palmer and all the other coal bosses that mining Nature Refuges is unacceptable and the people of Queensland won't allow it”.