Words can fail one. I am compelled to write and thank all of the remarkable, peaceful activists who maintained First Nations’ vision for the rights of nature at Wallum, which has been viewed legally as ‘fit for development’.
To the First Nations people I express my heartfelt sorrow for such a deep ongoing cultural abuse of your sovereign land, your culture, your deep knowledge, your people, by colonial settler Australians. Can we ever hope that the cruel psychic blindness projected onto First Nations people by colonial settlers will ever end? Ten-year-old children continue to be imprisoned, violating human rights charters. Indigenous women in prisons giving birth have their legs shackled. Debates over this practice continue to exist between doctors and prison officers!
And now at Wallum the first stage of land clearing has been executed and the pretty-face wallabies are searching in wider community areas for food. Was the plight of sentient creatures legally addressed in the final Wallum legal document? What care are the developers/Council/authorities giving to these and other dear creatures? Why was a pretty-face wallaby killed on a road recently? What remedies are offered to this denial of the rights of nature and the UN charter that acknowledges the rights of First Nations people and sentient beings?
Finally, why are the existing trees to be felled when according to 65,000 years of First Nations knowledge, and respect of Mother Earth, their deep roots play an imperative role cleansing acid sulphate soils … which in turn negatively affects every living sentient being? The social $$$ contract that exists between communities and ‘power’ is a legal recognition of a democratic exchange. The advance of authoritarian ‘power structures’ in the region must be legally investigated. The vital question remains: does the community hold a vision of its rights and power to elevate participatory democracy? All is connected. Kindness will win in the struggle.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
