JUDGE DELIBERATES, JONATHAN MOYLAN TO BE SENTENCED AT LATER DATE

3.40pm Friday 11th July, Supreme Court of NSW, 184 Phillip St, Sydney.

Jonathan Moylan, 26, will be sentenced at a date yet to be set following a hearing at the Supreme Court in Sydney today. 200 supporters held a vigil in support of Moylan outside the court, while dozens of supporters filled the court room.

In January 2013 Moylan issued a press release on ANZ letterhead saying the bank had withdrawn its $1.2 billion loan facility from Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Project on environmental and ethical grounds. Whitehaven’s share price temporarily fell before quickly recovering.

Moylan is charged under section 1041E of the Corporations Act, pertaining to the making of false or misleading statements.

Rick Laird, farmer from Maules Creek whose family has farmed in the district for over 150 years, travelled to Sydney to support Jonathan Moylan.

“ANZ’s loan means Whitehaven Coal can turn Maules Creek from a farming village into an open-cut pit. We rely on groundwater to water our livestock and for our household water supply, and the Whitehaven Coal mine will lower our water table by 5-10 metres.

“We’ve been fighting this mine for years, and the stand that Jono took means that people now know what’s happening at Maules Creek.

“Jono stood with us, and now we’re here to stand with Jono,” said Rick Laird.

Ros Druce from the Maules Creek Community Council travelled to Sydney for the first time in two decades to support Jonathan Moylan at the Supreme Court today.

“Whitehaven’s coal mine threatens to wipe Maules Creek off the map. The Maules Creek community stands with Jono,” she said.

BACKGROUND

ANZ provides a $1.2 billion loan facility to Whitehaven Coal, primarily intended to develop the Maules Creek Coal Project. The Maules Creek Coal Project is a new open-cut coal mine being developed in Leard State Forest and adjacent farm land near Maules Creek in north west NSW.

On the day of the hoax, Whitehaven Coal’s (WHC) share price dropped from $3.52 to $3.21 before a trading halt, and bounced back to $3.53 within an hour of trading resuming. Since January 2013, Whitehaven’s share price has plummeted in the face of the slumping global coal price, closing at $1.45 yesterday.

Leard State Forest is located between Narrabri and Boggabri, it includes the most extensive and intact stands of the nationally-listed and critically endangered Box-Gum Woodland remaining on the Australian continent. The forest is home to 396 species of plants and animals and includes habitat for 34 threatened species and several endangered ecological communities.

The Maules Creek Coal Project is approved to extract up to 13 million tonnes of coal annually, and estimated to produce 30 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. The mine is expected to operate for more than 30 years. The coal will be railed from the mine in north west NSW to the port of Newcastle for export. The coal mine project boundary is approximately 5 kilometres from the Maules Creek township.
Rick Laird