WGAR News: Broome community calls on Shell to protect burial grounds: The Stringer

Newsletter date: 12 March 2013

Contents:

* The Stringer: Broome community calls on Shell to protect burial grounds
* Alex Bainbridge, Green Left: Kimberley rally forces response from Labor and Liberal
* The Stringer: Broome voters send a strong message - don’t build the gas hub
* SMH: Hot contest in Kimberley gas hub seat
* Independent Australia: Kimberley's gas hub to become industrial wasteland - Greens
* WA 2013 Vote: Barnett Woodside Gang Up on Broome Community
* WA 2013 Vote: Liberal Bloom Admits James Price Point Start About Complete Kimberley Resource Development
* More News re Kimberley election
* Background to the Save The Kimberley Campaign - James Price Point, north of Broome, WA

* THE STRINGER: BROOME COMMUNITY CALLS ON SHELL TO PROTECT BURIAL GROUNDS

- News

The Stringer: Broome community calls on Shell to protect burial grounds
http://thestringer.com.au/broome-community-calls-on-shell-to-protect-bur...
8 Mar 13: "The Broome Community are calling on Shell to intervene in Woodside’s planned drilling and excavation works which form part of its push to develop gas refineries at James Price Point on the Kimberley coast. The plans have caused uproar in the Broome community because of the damage that would be caused to a fragile environment which includes an endangered ecological community recently listed for protection by the Australian Government under Federal environment laws. The drilling area is also an Aboriginal burial ground which is full of culturally sensitive sites."

* ALEX BAINBRIDGE, GREEN LEFT: KIMBERLEY RALLY FORCES RESPONSE FROM LABOR AND LIBERAL

- Analysis / Opinion

Green Left: Kimberley rally forces response from Labor and Liberal
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/53474
2 Mar 13: "The campaign against the gas hub at Walmadan (James Price Point) in the Kimberley received a huge boost when about 20,000 people marched through the streets of Fremantle and attended a vibrant and political "Concert for the Kimberley" on February 24. ... environmentalists are increasingly confident that a victory on the gas hub campaign is possible. ... Commenting on the rally, Wilderness Society WA coordinator said "the only two times in recent history that we've seen rallies of this size in Perth have been for the old growth forests and Ningaloo, and both campaigns went on to great success"." By Alex Bainbridge, "a socialist activist since 1990 when he first joined Resistance and then the Democratic Socialist Party. He was a founding member of the Socialist Alliance in 2001."

- Past Event

Event: Sun 24 February 2013: Fremantle, Perth, WA
Concert for the Kimberley:
A concert and march in the heart of Fremantle
The Wilderness Society
"Join us in Fremantle on Sunday 24 February 2013
for a free, open-air concert featuring the
John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins, Ball Park Music,
special guest Dr Bob Brown, and others."
"This concert and rally is a call to arms for
all West Australians to stand up and protect
one of our finest national treasures,
The Kimberley," says John Butler
Event details: http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/kimberley/concert-for-the-kimberl...
Event details: http://www.greenleft.org.au/events/53255
Flyer: http://www.wilderness.org.au/images/concert-for-kimberley-freo
WGAR Background to the Save The Kimberley Campaign: http://indymedia.org.au/2012/11/22/wgar-news-background-to-the-save-the-...

See:

WGAR News: "20,000 turn out to save the Kimberley" "A concert and march in the heart of Fremantle" (27 Feb 13)
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/02/26/wgar-news-20000-turn-out-to-save-the-...

* THE STRINGER: BROOME VOTERS SEND A STRONG MESSAGE - DON'T BUILD THE GAS HUB

- News

The Stringer: Broome voters send a strong message - don’t build the gas hub
http://thestringer.com.au/broome-voters-send-a-strong-message-dont-build...
10 Feb 13: "Broome voters clearly took into account Premier Barnett’s push for the James Price Point Gas Hub and his compulsory acquisition threats to the Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr peoples over land access and use. The Aboriginal communities are divided over the issue and they constitute one in three voters ... The result from Broome polling booths showed Greens WA Chris Maher received an enormous swing and today stands neck and neck with Jenny Bloom of the Liberals for the most votes by any candidate."

* SMH: HOT CONTEST IN KIMBERLEY GAS HUB SEAT

- News

SMH: Hot contest in Kimberley gas hub seat
http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/state-election-2013/hot-contest-in-kimberl...
10 Mar 13: "Re-elected West Australian Premier Colin Barnett remains firm on the Kimberley gas project going ahead, despite the anti-hub Greens making it a close contest in the seat. With 52.4 per cent of the vote counted before tallying was suspended on Saturday night, the Liberals led in the Kimberley with 26.48 per cent followed by the Greens with 25.88 per cent. ... "It's a huge statement by the people of Broome and the Kimberley that they don't want the gas hub," he [former federal Greens leader Bob Brown] said."

* INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA: KIMBERLEY'S GAS HUB TO BECOME INDUSTRIAL WASTELAND - GREENS

- News

Independent Australia: Kimberley's gas hub to become industrial wasteland - Greens
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/kimberleys-gas-hub-to-...
8 Mar 13: "The Greens’ candidate for the Kimberley, Chris Maher, says that we should be investing in the Kimberley’s environmental and cultural economic assets, not in the creation of an industrial wasteland in one of the great regions of the earth. ... LET’S NOT BE HOODWINKED into accepting Premier Colin Barnett’s disingenuous claim that the James Price Point industrial precinct will affect only a fraction of the Kimberley’s natural environment. In the seat of Kimberley, only the Greens oppose the on-shore gas factory proposal at James Price Point."

* WA 2013 VOTE: BARNETT WOODSIDE GANG UP ON BROOME COMMUNITY

- Video

WA 2013 Vote: Barnett Woodside Gang Up on Broome Community
http://wa2013.vote-wars.info/gas-hub/923-barnett-woodside-gang-up-on-bro...
7 Mar 13: "Greens candidate Chris Maher has questioned the latest secrecy in the Browse LNG Development in Broome. Broome Council was requested to keep secret documents that show impact of James Price Point on the local Broome community. ... In what has been described as the potential to be perceived as attempts to stop the flow of information to local Broome residents before the WA 2013 Election the Department for State Development under the control of the Premier has requested the reports be kept secret."

* WA 2013 VOTE: LIBERAL BLOOM ADMITS JAMES PRICE POINT START ABOUT COMPLETE KIMBERLEY RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

- News

WA 2013 Vote: Liberal Bloom Admits James Price Point Start About Complete Kimberley Resource Development
http://wa2013.vote-wars.info/gas-hub/925-liberal-bloom-admits-james-pric...
7 Mar 13: "Liberal Kimberley candidate Jenny Bloom has admitted the James Price Point Gas Hub is about opening up the complete Kimberley to resource development, not just processing Browse LNG Gas. Bloom has said mining is going to be undertaken in the Kimberley and work is being undertaken on how to do this."

* MORE NEWS RE KIMBERLEY ELECTION

- News

ABC Kimberley: Kimberley win may take days to decide
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-11/close-kimberley-vote-may-take-days...
11 Mar 13: "It could be at least a week and a half before it is known who has won the Lower House seat of Kimberley at Saturday's state election. Kimberley returning officer Ron Camp says because it is so close, the 2,000-odd absent votes could heavily alter the result. The latest WA Electoral Commission figures puts the Liberals' Jenny Bloom ahead by less than 50 primary votes, followed by the Greens' Chris Maher and then Labor's Josie Farrer. However, once votes from remote communities are counted and preferences distributed, that order could dramatically change."

ABC Kimberley: What the Green vote says about Kimberley gas
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/10/3712247.htm?site=kimberley
10 Mar 13: "In the midst of a statewide swing against the Greens of four percent, their Kimberley candidate had a 12 percent swing in his favour. It's a success story in an otherwise bleak election for the party, with only one of four upper house members likely to survive. The Green heartland in the Kimberley is the region's biggest centre, the cosmopolitan town of Broome, where the James Price Point gas precinct has dominated the local issues. As the only party opposing gas at the controversial site 60 kilometres north of the town, the Greens won 36 percent of the Primary vote with the Liberals second on 26 percent." By Ben Collins

ABC Kimberley: Greens in hunt while Nationals stumble in the Kimberley
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/10/3712188.htm
10 Mar 13: "The Nationals face disappointment in the Kimberley while the Greens mix it with Liberal and Labor for Western Australia's northern most seat. The key seat of Kimberley is still very much undecided. The West Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) published results put the Liberal vote just 49 ahead of the Greens with town booths counted. Then it's a few hundred votes back to Labor and the Nationals. But the seat is still undecided as the results don't include postal or remote polling booths." By Ben Collins

ABC Kimberley: Election promises for Kimberley conservation big on area but small on detail
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/01/3701705.htm?site=kimberley
1 Mar 13: "Both major parties have announced massive Kimberley conservation policies with little detail about what protection they would actually afford. The two major parties vying to form the next West Australian government have gone head to head on conservation in the Kimberley in a big way. The WA Liberal Party announced their plans for the Wanjina National Park which will take in the existing Mitchell River National Park, Prince Regent National Park and the Lawley River National Park. The Environment Minister, Bill Marmion, says it could form Australia's biggest national park." By Vanessa Mills and Ben Collins

- Analysis / Opinion

ABC Kimberley: Kimberley candidates answer your questions in election forum
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/07/3710547.htm
7 Mar 13: "A lively and interested audience gathered to hear from their local Kimberley candidates ahead of the upcoming State election. The forum included Independent candidate Rod Ogilvie, Michelle Pucci from the Nationals Party, Jenny Bloom representing the Liberal Party and Chris Maher from the Greens. ABC Kimberley had late notice that Labor's Josie Farrer was unable to make it to Broome for the forum, and Christian candidate Craig Simons was unavailable to attend."

* BACKGROUND TO THE SAVE THE KIMBERLEY CAMPAIGN - JAMES PRICE POINT, NORTH OF BROOME, WA

Last updated: 9 March 2013

http://indymedia.org.au/2012/11/22/wgar-news-background-to-the-save-the-...

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