VRM drops Marsh Advantage Insurance over Adani

Victoria Regional Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have used Marsh Advantage as our insurance broker for many years, and for different premises, including for the current Victorian Friends Centre.

When we heard that Marsh Advantage was actively seeking to procure new insurance companies for the Adani Carmichael mine project, we contacted them multiple times to ask them to withdraw from this association. In each communication it was explicitly stated that such an association would mean that we would have to reconsider dealing with them.

Despite this, we received no response.

Australian Quakers have made clear our opposition to coal extraction and use, and specifically to the Adani Carmichael mine project. We are alarmed at the increasing level of Australian carbon emissions and the lack of political will on the part of the Australian Federal Coalition Government to outline a realistic path to zero emissions.  We are deeply concerned at the level of coal extraction in Australia and our continuing financial dependence on coal exports. The Presiding Clerk of Quakers Australia wrote to the Prime Minister in October 2017 to express our opposition to coal extraction and use.

Our testimonies to Integrity and to the Earth mean that it was inconsistent for us to continue dealing with Marsh Advantage Insurance Brokers.

Victorian Quakers therefore made the decision to move our business from Marsh Advantage and to publicise the ethical and environmental reasons underpinning this decision.