Story & photo Marie Cameron
Kyogle Council wants to make new rules to govern protesters and the action of protest within the shire.
Some of the residents close to the Doubtful Creek blockade met with Kyogle mayor Ross Brown late last week to complain of feeling harassed, intimated and under siege. The mayor responded with, ‘I think those groups should pack up and move’ and ‘all they’re now creating is bad feeling’.
Only a few weeks ago mayor Brown stood on the front line lending his support to the CSG free cause. Now he says it’s time for Council to set new rules and manage future protests by designing protocols for ‘… keeping the local population as minimally affected by it as we possibly can’.
What is unknown from the meeting is whether the many locals who can be found at the blockade doing all they can for the protest will receive the same level of support.
More than 85 per cent of Kyogle residents responded ‘no’ to the CSG Free Community survey.
The rain keeps coming and the front line is wet. Layers of straw and wood chips have resurfaced the kitchen floor. Donations of food are flowing in and hearty meals are rolling out. When it comes to CSG people don’t care about the mud. An undercover fire is in constant use, filling the front line with distinctive campfire smoke.
Metgasco still has its equipment in the compound, the roads and bridges are under duress and there is no way to call when the trucks will roll. However, the state forestry has called for a meeting (Monday) to tell those on blockade to leave. They want to log the pine plantation positioned in front of the blockade.
Protesters have responded by bringing out the Simmotron. This symbol of resistance is a decommissioned car locked to the ground with towering tripods overhead. Many people have contributed to its design and capability. It’s positioned in front of the forestry gate and is surrounded by moats of mud.
Protesters say they have no intention of declaring the blockade over. Instead, the resolve to achieve has increased.
In a statement issued on Friday, a group of Earth Protectors based at the site said, ‘we are gathered at the gates of the CSG site on the sovereign land of the Githabul people to bear witness and to passively resist the ongoing development of this incredibly destructive and divisive industry’.
‘We have been heartened by the ongoing support of the community in supplying food and assistance through this time.
‘We stand in solidarity with the customary law of the Githabul people who hold the Earth sacred in their spirituality and whose ancient wisdom must guide our community vision for this country.
‘We stand in solidarity with local farmers whose livelihood is threatened by the pollution of the water table by CSG mining as evidenced in the experience of the communities of Tara and Chinchilla in Queensland.
‘We are ordinary people driven to extraordinary and desperate measures in order to have our voices heard. We will continue to hold vigil on the drill rig so as to prevent it from moving to other communities.’
How can Mayor Brown possibly justify any action which would allow Metgasco and cronies more expedient access to our precious land? When the survey was carried out, there were in excess of 85% of residents who do not want CSG and don’t intend to allow CSG into their lives.
Since that survey was taken, many more people have become aware of the risks of CSG to their air, water and food, and now understand that CSG also risks their wellbeing, on all levels, so one might fairly assume that the number opposed to CSG will likely have risen significantly.Mayor Brown’s duty is to represent the people within his Council’s boundaries.
The most obvious interference with local activity in potentially CSG-affecetd areas that I’ve witnessed to date has been through road closures put in place by the police, under government authority, on behalf of Metgasco. The blame for these particular hinderances cannot be put down to the actions of those opposed to CSG, but to the actions of those who would allow it here, for reasons unfathomable to, and against the wishes of, the vast majority of residents of this and neighbouring shires.
It IS time for Council to set new rules and manage better, indeed, but in order to keep “the local population as minimally affected by it as we possibly can”, the most vital step needed is for our elected Mayor, and those of neighbouring areas, to acknowledge and act upon the wishes of the overwhelming majority within their respective electorates who voted against CSG, and to take the only appropriate action, which is to become more proactive in preventing the CSG scourge from destroying our land and wellbeing.
Surely Forests of NSW can go log elsewhere for the next week or two until the rig leaves! Has Metgasco pressured the forestry department now?