‘Divestment Day’ calls on people to close their accounts with banks which choose to invest money into the fossil fuel industry. 

La Trobe student Josh Pariss said the movement was about challenging the big banks to change their investment policies. 

“It’s about getting the big banks to stop investing in fossil fuels, to stop paying for new coal mines,” Mr Pariss said. 

“Other banks like the Bendigo Bank and the Bank of Australia, they have divested – which is the opposite of invested – so they are no longer paying for those things.” 

Fellow activist Trevor Scott said the protest was also about reaching everyday bank users. 

“That’s the principle of this action, to get people to think about what it is they are doing with their money, and if they are comfortable with that,” he said. 

Demonstrations were held across the country, starting with Armidale on Thursday and culminating in Melbourne’s  Federation Square at 11am tomorrow. 

A statement from organisers said the big four banks played a critical role in supporting the fossil fuel industry. 

“Since 2008, Australia’s major banks have loaned over $70 billion to fossil fuel projects and companies and have been involved in 75 per cent of all deals to the fossil fuel sector,” the statement read. 

“The fossil fuel fuel divestment movement now covers institutions worth $3.4 trillion in assets and through the Market Forces campaign, $700 million worth of savings has been put on notice, that is, people representing that amount of savings, home loans and shareholdings have contacted the bank to tell them that they’ll shift if they don’t stop funding fossil fuels.”

Market Forces released an open letter released in September, supported by over 60 civil society groups and prominent Australians, which called on the major banks to end financing for new fossil fuel projects and phase out exposure to the fossil fuel sector by 2030.

However Mr Pariss said today’s actions were not directed at the local bank branch or any of its employees, but rather were meant to convince the bank to change its policies on a national level. 

He said a number of small businesses and local organisations had already made a statement by divesting, and called on individual bank customers to follow suit. 

“It’s a small thing to do but just by divesting you’ll make an impact,” he said. 

The Commonwealth Bank Hargreaves Mall branch chose not to comment.