An Australian senator and New Zealand activist have planned to send an 'eviction notice' to Australian rare earths company Lynas’ headquarters in Sydney this morning.

 

Greens party Senator Lee Rhiannon ( right ) and environmental activist Natalie Lowrey said they are doing this to show "continuing solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who oppose Lynas Corporation's toxic and polluting rare earths refinery in Malaysia".

 

“We believe Malaysian lives are just as valuable as Australians.

 

"I have no regrets for standing in solidarity with the Malaysian community and will continue to campaign here in Australia for Lynas to shut down its toxic refinery, clean up its wastes and leave Malaysia," Lowrey said in a joint statement with Rhiannon today.

The ‘eviction notice’ was signed on behalf of 1.2 million Malaysians who had supposedly signed on Himpunan Hijau’s petition against Lynas, telling the company to cease operations, clean up its waste, and leave Malaysia immediately.

It accuses Lynas of not having ‘social license’ to operate in Malaysia and not conducting a transparent public consultation process, in addition to being harmful to health, among others.

Lynas has consistently denied claims that its plants are not safe and says it complies with all national and international standards and regulations imposed on it.

 

Lowrey was detained for five days while in Malaysia, for protesting alongside Malaysian anti-Lynas campaigners in Kuantan, and released last week.

In a separate statement today, she said she does not regret her actions. Instead, she said the protest was the most moving day of her life.

“I bore witness to the passion of people from all walks of life who were standing together as a movement, the Himpunan Hijau movement. A movement made up of local people and people from across Malaysia - everyday people - including mums, dads, children, grandparents, business people, doctors, accountants, veterinarians, lawyers, chefs, retirees, artists and many more, who continue to sacrifice their daily lives to stop Lynas from operating in Malaysia,” she said.

She also thanked her supporters as well as the Kuantan police in her statement, the latter of whom she said had treated her with dignity while in detention and had worked hard to expedite the decision whether or not to press charges her.

Meanwhile, Rhiannon said her party will support the anti-Lynas campaign and asserted that rare earths mined in Australia should be processed and managed there, including its wastes.

“The Stop Lynas campaign is an inspiring show of support for a community that have very real reasons to be worried about the enormous destruction this Lynas plant will create,” she said.

The 'eviction notice' came a day after Lynas announced that it is to shift its headquarters to Malaysia in its bid to reduce costs and to cut jobs.

The Australian Greens is a minor party in Australia, but holds enough seats in the country’s upper house (10 out of 76) to influence decisions.

This is because the ruling coalition does not have enough senators to pass legislation on its own and needs six more votes from the opposition, independents, or minor parties.