Bruce McQueen, Mount Burrell
Kevin Rudd loyalist Justine Elliot, Labor MP for Richmond, has egg all over her face on coal seam gas mining following Rudd’s recent public support for a gas industry in NSW. Months ago Ms Elliot declared the looming federal election a ‘referendum on CSG’ and has been running lots of taxpayer-funded ads in local papers proclaiming her opposition to that industry.
Now her leader has hung her out to dry by giving the go-ahead to the likes of Metgasco and Dart to return here and fracking-well destroy everything we in the northern rivers region hold dear.
It’s crystal clear that the Labor party is every bit as treacherous on the issue of CSG as the Nationals. We must use the ballot box at this year’s election to defend ourselves, which means voting 1 for the Greens’ Dawn Walker as our Richmond representative and 1 for the Greens in the Senate. Only the Greens have the political strength and the true commitment to help us defend our beautiful region against the CSG destruction we face. A vote for anyone else is a vote against your, your family’s, and the northern rivers’ future.
There will be CSG Free Party candidates standing for the election, with candidates drawn from the present broad opposition to CSG. The Greens dont own this issue, and they appear to be willing to disenfranchise the the broad political spectrum of the active groups that are actually building the broad consensus of opposition.
To my knowledge no one in the Greens party have claimed exclusive rights to this issue.There is far more at stake
with CSG extraction than bruised egos.However the Greens are an established political party with opposition to environmental destruction central to their existance & with
a proven track record.Anti CSG campaigners need to unite not squabble among themselves about who owns what issue,
the best way to help CSG companies is for environmentalists
is to make false accusations against fellow activists