May 17Australia stands up for the Kimberley!
Melbourne CBD action for the Kimberley / Image courtesy of Citizen Media Collective
A massive national day of action was held across the country yesterday, in support of the inspiring and brave community in Broome who are standing up and fighting for one of Australia’s most special places. Community members in Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney gathered in solidarity with the people of Broome who oppose the proposed gas hub at James Price Point in far north Western Australia.
More than 140 police officers have been flown to Broome to assist the company Woodside Petroleum’s controversial $40 billion James Price Point gas hub, in resuming work.
Hobart action for the Kimberley / Image by Doug O’Neil
The Melbourne event was held outside the BHP head office in the CBD, where over 200 people heard from local indigenous activist Vivien Moore, Jaxon Barnes from The Wilderness Society, Broome local Rodney Augustine and his wife Susannah. Check out this video of the event, which features some great commentary from Lyndon Schneiders of The Wilderness Society about the power of community resistance.
In Hobart, The Last Stand and the Huon Valley Environment Centre organised a guerilla cinema action in Salamanca, where 40 people (including a few Sea Shepherd legends ashore in Hobart town) held a candle light vigil while films from the protests about the proposed gas hub were screened. Have a squiz at the video message from the southern Tassie crew to the people of Broome here. READ MORE »
May 13Miranda celebrates 150 days in the ObserverTree!
We were absolutely delighted to open The Australian at Last Stand HQ this morning and see a huge & very beautiful photo (above) of the legendary Miranda Gibson celebrating her 150th day living in the upper canopy of the ObserverTree over the weekend, which was taken by amazing Tassie photographer Matthew Newton. Miranda has been perched 60 metres up an amazing ancient eucalypt since December last year, taking a stand for this spectacular forest which is under immediate threat despite promises of protection. Check out this great article by Australian reporter Matt Denholm HERE.
On her 150th day in the ObserverTree, Miranda called out for the whole world to take action for Tassie’s world class forests (which you can do with one click of a button HERE), and wrote in her ObserverTree blog on Saturday … ‘There is clear evidence that this logging coupe where my tree is located is due to be logged in order to supply logs to Malaysian company Ta Ann. The company have been identified in official documents as the key driver behind the ongoing logging in high conservation value forests. Yet they continue to misleadingly market their products internationally as being “eco” wood and coming from plantation sources.
‘I believe that the customers who are buying these products have the right to know the truth about where the wood is coming from. I also believe that Ta Ann needs to be accountable for the lies they are telling in the global market, and they need to be accountable to the community here in Tasmania, whose precious environment they are impacting. That is why I am committed to staying up in this tree. because I want to expose to the world the truth about the ongoing destruction of these forests and by doing so hopefully inspire others to take action to help protect these forests forever.’
Miranda, you are an absolute inspiration and we salute you! Make sure you have a squiz at Miranda’s wonderful daily blog on the ObserverTree website, and don’t forget to take action for Tassie’s forests right now by clicking HERE.
May 7The global community ‘connects the dots’ on climate change
The wonderful crew at 350.org organised a huge global day of action on Saturday. Connect the Dots is a project of 350.org and their partner organisations, to shine a spotlight on the connections between extreme weather and climate change. Communities right across the planet took part in this inspiring event over the weekend to highlight the fact that climate change is not a future problem — it’s happening right now. Make sure you check out the slideshow above and get more info HERE.