I'm sure you all already know about the heroic acts that are happening as I write as people work to stop Woodslide's drilling equipment reaching their compound up Manari Road.Campaign members managed to provide enough discouragement for 2 weeks so the Darkside didn't even try to move the trucks out of the yard. However, this Wednesday morning an attempt was made to get a large convoy, which includes the drill rig that will extract 35 million litres of water from our aquifer, up Manari Road. A series of lock ons, pole sits and tree sits stopped that plan very successfully, and the convoy is currently parked on Manari Road. For pics of the brave stuff people have done, check out our Facebook site.
This morning there are still several impediments on the road - and, if the Police remove them, Woodside faces the Goolarabooloo family going about their lawful cultural activities on the side track off Manari road that leads into the compound!
There's been some criticism in the press about the impact of this action on the tourism industry - needless to say, not all of it accurate. For example, it was the police who closed the Cape Leveque road, not us. Following is the press release we're sending out this morning to counter that criticism:
Media Release: Gas hub would destroy Broome tourism
BCNGC is asking why the WA Police and Woodside have attempted to take machinery to James Price Point at the height of the tourist season when they know that protests are continuing against the proposed gas hub.
“The WA Police and Woodside are well aware that this is the height of the tourist season and that the opposition to the gas hub is strong and continuing, it makes you think that the Police and Woodside have done this deliberately to cause angst in the community,” BCNGC spokesperson Nik Wevers said.
“The protests against the state government and Woodside’s gas hub have so far stopped a drill rig from going to James Price Point and unfortunately has caused some minor disruption to tourists but this is nothing compared to the industrialization of this area would do to the biggest industry in Broome,” said Ms Wevers.
A report by the Curtin University Centre for Sustainable Tourism (report available on request) highlighted the serious threat to tourism from oil and gas. The Recent EPA report said the impacts of dredging could extend as far as Gantheaume Point which means that Cable Beach would be under threat.
“If the gas hub goes ahead it will wreck tourism in Broome and damage the Kimberley brand. Tourists come here to see unspoilt beauty and industrialisation will tarnish this world class destination.” “The only way to guarantee a future for the tourism industry here is to make sure this gas hub goes elsewhere, there are alternatives that are cheaper and less environmentally damaging,” said Ms Wevers.
A huge and very sincere thanks to all of you have contributed to this action - in whatever role. We are a great team and we are winning! Even the Premier was heard to mutter something which indicated that he might be prepared to countenance an alternative site.
On a different campaign front - don't forget that this Saturday night is the LAUNCH of the findings of the dinosaur studies at JPP: 6pm at Notre Dame. We hope to see a big crowd there to hear the myriad of wonderful things researchers have found. If you volunteered to bake a cake or help with serving etc. THANK YOU!
Stay strong and supporting the Campaign in whatever way you can!
Photo Damian Kelly
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Well done WA Police. If you need more of my tax dollars to take out the trash I will gladly give more. To those deluded protestors in the field....you think this isnt bout money on your side too....think again....if this plant was put where JR SUGGESTED it would be a done deal already.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/paradox-of-plenty-boom-for-some-bust-for-others-20120817-24e2b.html
ReplyDeleteTHE mining boom may have provided Australia with divine immunity from the global financial crisis, but it has created a ''paradox of plenty'' - especially for our indigenous communities.
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In Australia, it is the state governments that have sucked up hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments while investing what has been described as ''peanuts'' on services in regions where fortunes are extracted. As Langton says, ''It is not Aboriginal rent-seeking that has been the problem, as has been asserted by the West Australian and Commonwealth governments; state governments themselves accelerate poverty and disadvantage among indigenous communities by refusing to allocate these communities a share of wealth from state-collected revenues.''
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Much more extreme examples of the paradox of plenty can be found in PNG, where revenues from mining resources have been the backbone of the national economy yet local communities have been impoverished. I will never forget travelling down the Ok Tedi River interviewing villagers whose communities had been devastated by BHP's gold and copper mine, then one of the world's largest. Sediment and tailings dumped into the river had created an ecological catastrophe, destroying the subsistence crops and gardens of people downstream.
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The biggest challenge then for the Gillard government, and a future Abbott government for that matter, is dismantling the bureaucratic and tax barriers to allow groups historically marginalised from the economy to maximise the financial benefits from agreements with the mining companies to access resources on traditional land. In short, removing the paradox of plenty.
After intensive lobbying from indigenous leaders, academics, the Minerals Council and the Native Title Council, the Gillard government has agreed to consider a new legal model for managing native title payments that allows for greater flexibility in the way money is spent. If implemented, it would be a long-overdue first step on the road to reform.
Although the boom has run for decades, traditional owners are yet to have the capacity to freely improve their circumstances when they agree to a major mining venture on their land. It is a sobering reminder that as a nation we are not done with paternalism.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/14584324/kids-not-learning-the-basics/
ReplyDeleteWA's primary school system is failing to teach basic reading and maths, leading to an alarming jump in illiterate and innumerate workers, according to some of the State's most influential business leaders.
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Town of Vincent mayor Alannah MacTiernan, who is on the board of the Challis early education centre, said there needed to be a rethink of the "pedagogy" in the education system that shied away from repetitively teaching the basics, especially among disadvantaged groups.
"Why is it that Aboriginal kids who spent three or four years on a mission school could end up reading and writing and their grandchildren now spend 12 years in school and come out knowing nothing," she said.
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The "back-to-basics" sentiment was backed by one of WA's leading home builders, Dale Alcock, who runs a major apprentice program. He said more also needed to be done to promote apprenticeships.
"We embark with, if you like, many of the young kids who come through the system and the system has failed them," he said.
I asked my childs teacher,"why don't you teach them times tables everyday like they used too?"
ReplyDeleteThe teacher replied,"oh we don't have time for that,there is so much we have to teach them there just isn't time."
Some years back a decission was made to teach to the most clever kids in the class.
They were warned this would be a disaster,and sure enough here we are.
Polititions are so stupid.
Why try and teach a child to run before they can crawl?
DO WE REALLY NEED THE WORLDS BIGGEST AND DIRTIEST GAS PLANT TO HELP THESE PEOPLE?
ReplyDeleteALL THEY NEED IS $7 MILLION.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/14575354/suicide-projects-cash-fight-backed/
In Fitzroy Crossing to assess the project yesterday, awards chairman Professor Dodson said the Yiriman Project should not be "run on the smell of an oily rag" as Australia had nothing else like it.
Developed in part to address the Fitzroy Valley's unacceptably high suicide rate, it includes elders taking troubled youth on trips "back to country" to help them develop their self-esteem, identity and cultural strength.
"Yiriman is very innovative . . . the elders own it, they run it and they control it - it's not something imposed on them by governments in Canberra or Perth," Professor Dodson said.
"It gets kids back on to country . . . and crucially, it grounds their identity.
"A lot of the research around youth suicide has indicated that identity conflict . . . a loss of sense of connection . . . is an issue."
Yiriman's other projects, including an Aboriginal youth drug and alcohol diversion program, have been funded through philanthropy.
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KALACC co-ordinator Wes Morris said he had had a dozen funding applications rejected by State and Federal ministers over the past four years.
Two years ago, he submitted a formal request for $7 million with a business plan to the State Government but had failed to find support for Yiriman.
Mr Morris said up to thousands of fragile young people in the Kimberley were struggling with identity issues and a lack of resilience and were not mentally ill.
"Through Yiriman, troubled youth are assisted to develop their resilience and strength and given the personal resources to respond to life's challenges," Mr Morris said.
"If they don't know their identity ... then they are much higher risk of suicide.”
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http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/14143781/liberal-wasteful-spending-target-of-website/
( WWW.LIBERALWASTE.COM )
Labor has launched a website aimed at highlighting what it claims is wasteful spending by the Barnett Government.
Wasteful spending claims include $230,000 on indoor plant hire for public servants and $1.4 million on corporate hospitality for Synergy.
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“You would have heard some of the comments I made in Parliament about the $250,000 being spent by the Barnett Government to advertise Elizabeth Quay,” he said.
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NO WE DON'T!!!
I just stumbled upon your informative blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts.
ReplyDeleteDavid miller