News

MEDIA ALERT

FOR THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER

Mid-West and Wheatbelt students to rally against fracking plans

Communities across Western Australia’s Mid-West and Wheatbelt will declare their opposition to fracking gasfields this week as part of nation-wide School Strike 4 Climate demonstrations.

Locals were outraged after Prime Minister Scott Morrison listed the Northern Perth Basin, which lies under much of the region, as one of the five gasfields targeted for development under the Coalition’s disastrous plan to sink taxpayer funds into propping up the dirty and dangerous gas industry.

The region was also not included in the list of places where fracking would be banned when the McGowan Government overturned the moratorium in 2018, and exploration and drilling licences now cover communities, farmland, and natural and cultural heritage places.

Despite this, many communities in the Mid-West and Wheatbelt have bravely declared themselves “fracking gasfield free”, and locals stand ready to defend their livelihoods, farms, and precious underground water resources.

School Strike 4 Climate events taking part across the region, where students and their families will gather to wave signs and deliver speeches include:

Thursday September 24:

• Moora:  3.15pm, Moora oval playground 

• Woodridge: 4pm, Woodridge Community Centre, 3 King Dr Woodridge

Friday September 25:

• Geraldton: 11.30am, Stow Gardens, Marine Terrace, Geraldton.

Lock the Gate Alliance Western Australia spokesperson Jarrad Thomas said, “Communities in this part of WA were left feeling like second-class citizens when the McGowan Government announced it would sacrifice them to fracking companies, while protecting other parts of the state.

“For them now to be targeted by the Morrison Government as well just adds insult to injury.

“But locals are not giving in - that’s why this week they are loudly and proudly declaring their firm opposition to the Morrison Government’s plan to sink public funds into polluting, dangerous fracking gasfields.”

Woodridge mum of three Nicole Hutch said her children wanted to participate in the demonstrations because the decisions being made now by the Morrison and McGowan government would adversely impact their future.

“I don’t want my children to have to grow up in a toxic, polluting gasfeld,” she said.

“Just like any parent, we want our kids to be able to breathe clean air, to drink clean water, and allowing fracking gasfields to pockmark the landscape and potentially contaminate our aquifers is totally at odds with that.

“For Mr Morrison and Mr McGowan to encourage fracking in our backyard is just madness, and we need to do what we can to stop it now, so our kids can have a brighter future.”

ENDS

Media contact, Jarrad Thomas, 0438960724