News

Media alert For Friday, 25 September

Back off the Beetaloo: Alice Springs joins national gas protest

What: School Strike 4 Climate Alice Springs event

When: September 25, 08:45-09:30 AM

Where: "Welcome to Alice Springs" sign on the South Stuart Highway

Media contacts: Jimmy Cocking, director@alec.org.au, 0423 511 931, Elliat Rich, design@elliatrich.com, 0437 311 321

Students and Alice Springs community members will stage a highway demonstration as part of the national School Strike 4 Climate on September 25, where they will demand political leaders abandon plans to use taxpayer funds to subsidise the polluting, climate-wrecking gas industry.

The group will gather safely at the Welcome to Alice Springs sign on the South Stuart Highway where they will tell passing motorists they want the government to “Fund Our Future Not Gas”. 

The demonstration, in part organised by local climate action group Fridays for the Future, will be held in response to the Morrison Government’s recent announcement that the NT’s Beetaloo Basin will be sacrificed to satisfy corporate greed as part of the economically and environmentally destructive plan to sink taxpayer funds into expanding polluting gas.

“The government’s plans to fast-track fracking the Beetaloo Basin by using taxpayer money to prop up this failing industry is reckless and has no place in our nation’s recovery. “ said Jimmy Cocking, CEO of the Arid Lands Environment Centre.

“The reckless Morrison government is planning to fast track fracking that will risk our water,  lock in decades of pollution and high power prices and risk long-term economic opportunities and prosperity for Territorians.”

“Instead of exploiting the Beetaloo Basin, we should embrace cheaper renewable energy and champion a clean recovery.

“The majority of NT residents do not support the fracking industry and the upcoming national day of action is a chance for Alice residents to continue to call for government investment in clean energy, rather than backing gas fracking.”

“We all want a safe future but it feels like our elected representatives aren’t working for the best interests of the vast majority of Australians. We know that the fossil fuel industry has too much influence in our democracy and this is another short-sighted grab for fast, dirty and dangerous money,” said Elliat Rich, member of Fridays for the Future. 

“This isn’t about jobs or investing in long-term infrastructure or caring for our climate, this is about a handful of companies taking way more than their fair share - again. That’s why we’re taking action with people all across the country to help safeguard our future.”

"The impacts of climate change are not a distant threat, they are being experienced now. Funneling public funds into gas extraction is a short-sighted investment, set to benefit only a few. We desperately need our leaders to urgently respond to the climate crisis, instead, they are funding it," said Peta Steller, member of Fridays for the Future.  

ENDS