2nd October 2012
• Aerial protest locks Woodside out of their Broome Office
• Protest in response to Woodside attempting to gain DIA permissions to enter the culturally important sand dunes at James Price Point
• Woodside placed on notice by Broome community – more protests to come
No gas campaigners have today locked Woodside Petroleum staff out of their Broome offices, with Broome community member George Bishop suspended 8 metres of the ground on a pole connected by ropes to the office entrances. Any attempt to remove the rope and unblock the doors will drop the pole, and Mr Bishop, to the ground.
The action comes in response to Woodside’s furthering their campaign to gain access in to the culturally important sand dunes at James Price Point. The dunes contain numerous Indigenous heritage sites, including burial grounds.
It was revealed last Wednesday that Woodside’s access to the dunes will be discussed by the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee (ACMC) in their next meeting, with the ACMC making a recommendation on whether work should proceed to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs.
“The community here has no confidence in the Barnett Government’s ability to make a decision based on anything other than their desire to force through the gas hub at James Price Point.” Said Nik Wevers of the Broome Community No Gas Campaign
“We’ve seen a corruption of process within government with conflicts of interest in the EPA, and within the last month it has come to light that government and Woodside have colluded to suppress information about the cultural significance of the area”
“Scores of people have been arrested keeping Woodside out of Country and the people of Broome have always said that Woodside going in to the dunes will be when the direct action campaign really flares up. I have spoken to large numbers of people who have said that they are ‘saving’ their arrest for Woodside’s attempt to enter the dunes.”
“Today we’re putting Woodside on notice – they must stay out of the dunes or they will face the full force of the Broome community” concluded Wevers
For images or more information, please contact Frances Myles on 0450 498 344.
Photo Damian Kelly
Posts
https://indymedia.org.au/2012/09/29/climate-of-death-justice-denied-means-more-will-die
ReplyDeleteCLIMATE of DEATH - justice denied means more will die, by Gerry Georgatos (courtesy of the National Indigenous Times - nit.com.au)
"We have to get rid of racist cops. I don't want to dwell on the past but I have grown up bitter," said Nyungar Elder Ben Taylor. Mr Taylor is on the mark when he says, "They have been killing our people for two hundred years."
John Pat is dead. Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee is dead. T.J.Hickey is dead. Dion Woods is dead. Grantley Winmar is dead. Elder Mr Ward is dead. Peter Clarke is dead. Terrance Briscoe is dead. There have been more than 300 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991 - the year of the 339 recommendations from the 1987-1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Since 1980 and to 2012 there have been nearly 3,000 deaths in custody - Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, one of the world's worst death in custody rates.
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Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia, proportion to population are the world's most incarcerated peoples - with Aboriginal peoples only 3 per cent of the total State population. Western Australia incarcerates the Aboriginal peoples of its State at nine times the rate of Apartheid South Africa, while Australia incarcerates Aboriginal peoples at a national rate of five times the Apartheid South African rate. Something is clearly wrong. In terms of proportion to total prison population the world record is tragically held by the Northern Territory where 84 per cent of its prison population is Aboriginal despite Aboriginal peoples comprising 28 per cent of the total Territory population.
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The forensic pathologist, Dr John Hinton reported that John Pat died of multiple injuries, his head injuries caused swelling and a brain haemorrhage, and that indeed he was victim to at least ten blows to his head. There were half a dozen bruises above his right ear and therefore at one stage he had been degenerated into a punching bag. The bruises and injuries to the rest of his body were so horrific that his aorta was torn, and to one family member this is as if his heart had been broken by the violence of man in the same ways the heart of Aboriginal peoples had been broken by those who chose for far too long to treat them as lesser.
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On January 4 2007 the review commenced however the key witness, Patrick Bramwell was found hanged on Palm Island on January 16. A family member alleged that Mr Bramwell had earlier said to relatives he had been threatened by a police officer in the event he testified. However on January 26, the review overturned the DPP's decision not to lay charges and instead recommends that Sergeant Hurley was charged with manslaughter. Like the five police officers accused of killing John Pat and brought before trial, so too was Sergeant Hurley in June 2007 - before an all-white jury in Townsville.
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Broken lives haunt and Mr Doomadgee's only son, 18 year old son Eric was found hanged in Palm Island bushland on July 19, 2010 - it was said this occurred after earlier being taken for a drive by police.
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“Write of life, the pious said. Forget the past, the past is dead. But all I see, in front of me, is a concrete floor, a cell door, and John Pat. Agh! Tear out the page, forget his age. Thin skull they cried, that’s why he died! But I can’t forget the silhouette of a concrete floor, a cell door, and John Pat. The end product of Guddia (white man’s) Law is a viaduct, for fang and claw. And a place to dwell, like Roebourne’s hell, of a concrete floor, a cell door, and John Pat.” The Reverend’s crackling voice rose more, and resonated John Pat alive with all of us, “He’s there – Where? There in their minds now, deep within. There to prance, a long sidelong glance, a silly grin, to remind them all, of a Guddia wall, a concrete floor, a cell door, and John Pat.”
Good on you George, and all the Broome community!!! Proud of you, stay strong, wild and free! We are dancing with the law over here. In solidarity and love from your sister back home XXXX
ReplyDeleteThanks for the freak show. Didn't stop anything either. People can work anywhere now. Bring back the rigs and roll em' west of the track.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Woodside need to.Listening to their comments,and Shell's,they are only going through the motions to keep the gov happy.
DeleteColeman's comment that $45 billion was only a "two thirds" figure says it all.Until they fix Pluto it looks like JPP and Sunrise will be too expensive for them.The more FLNG Shell orders the cheaper the ships become.Common sense will prevail - or Woodside will be no more.
The Police and Broome ABC team up with Procter again in another feeble attempt to slur the protestors.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-03/broome-business-oppose-protest-blockage/4292612
Broome Chamber of Commerce chief executive MaryAnne Peterson says local businesses are furious at the protesters.
"They have the right to protest but I think they should start showing some respect to the community of Broome," she said.
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The ploy is not working - the police closed them off just as they closed the Manari road.
http://www.pennenergy.com/index/petroleum/display/5982400773/articles/pennenergy/petroleum/offshore/2012/october/deepwater-explorations.html
ReplyDeleteDeepwater explorations to dominate Australia's LNG market
Australian offshore natural gas exploration has intensified since the economic catastrophe of 2008: in 2009, 72 wells were drilled, but this figure has increased steadily each year and is expected to reach 153 in 2016.
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Woodside Petroleum and Apache Corporation are the top lease-holders in offshore Australia, holding leases for 55 and 53 blocks respectively in 2011, followed by Santos, Chevron and BHP Billiton, with 27, 25 and 22 blocks, respectively.
For the entire Asia-Pacific region, offshore drilling expenditure will climb from $16 billion in 2011 to $24 billion in 2016, with an expected deepwater spend of $14 billion in the final year.
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SO FORGET BARNETT AND JPP - WHERE ARE THE CHEERS FOR BROOME AS A SUPPLY BASE.
BCC SAY WE NEED ANOTHER INDUSTRY - WELL HERE IT IS.
Let's just hope the cowboys stay out otherwise down the drain we will go.
Deletehttp://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/10/independent-reviews-suggested-as-way-to-keep-offshore-safety-current.html
Regularly scheduled reviews of offshore oil and gas safety and environmental standards and practices could help assure that the complacency prevalent before the 2010 Macondo deepwater well blowout and subsequent oil spill doesn’t resurface, an environmental organization official suggested.
Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the National Academies of Science or some other independent group with the necessary expertise and stature possibly could conduct such reviews as each federal 5-year US Outer Continental Shelf program was being developed.
“It may take outside bodies—both regulators and independent scientists—to identify areas which need to be addressed as the industry moves into more challenging regions and depths,” Holstein said during an Oct. 2 discussion of offshore oil and gas safety at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director James A. Watson, who also participated, said Holstein’s idea intrigued him.
“In an industry that’s constantly moving forward, I think you need another mechanism,” he said. “It’s constantly pressing technology and management systems into higher-risk areas. I think there’s a role for someone to point out that this is happening, and that a time-out might be necessary.”
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Holstein said the essential question was whether the oil and gas industry and its regulators can maintain rigorous safety and environmental standards amid budget cuts and political pressures. “Indeed, in the presidential race, there’s much discussion of whether we’re moving fast enough [to develop domestic oil and gas resources], and I expect it to be part of tomorrow night’s debate,” he said.
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Yep drill baby drill - but no spill baby spill please.
South Africa joins the fraccing bonanza.
ReplyDeleteFor South Africa, a net importer of energy with about 90 percent of its power supply being coal-based, any and all alternatives are under consideration.
South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources in April 2011 placed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. Two weeks ago the DMR lifted the moratorium, specifically on fracking for shale natural gas and last week released the detailed version of the report it commissioned on hydraulic fracturing.
There are certainly reserves to exploit, as, according to the estimates one reads, South Africa ranks among the top ten global owners of shale gas resources, perhaps even as high as number five. The U.S. government Energy Information Administration’s initial estimates of South Africa shale gas reserves are that there are technically recoverable a massive 485 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in the Karoo Basin.
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AND ALL YOU FIFO'S - DON'T FORGET TO CHECK YOUR BOP BEFORE YOU DRILL BABY DRILL.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/15020930/sharp-rise-in-hiv-sex-infections/
Dr Armstrong said the increase in travellers to South-East Asia since 2005 played a part in the rise in gonorrhoea cases, with Thailand and Indonesia the main nations where it was contracted.
Mr Roebuck, who is gay, became depressed and attempted suicide after he was diagnosed in 1999.
He said people were getting complacent about the virus, with young people ignoring advice about safe sex.
He urged mining companies to provide more education about HIV and sexually transmitted infections and said Perth needed a drop-in centre, a peer support group and more doctors able to prescribe HIV medication.
People Living with HIV/AIDS WA Inc vice-chairman James Rendell said HIV-positive people faced unacceptable barriers in getting treatment in Perth. He said care provided to HIV-positive people was "so Third World" that people went to the Eastern States for treatment.
"If Perth had the same services available as South Australia, then no one would complain," he said.
WA AIDS Council chief executive Andrew Burry said barriers facing HIV-positive people should be removed.