Concert for the Kimberley with 20,000 people!

John Butler showing 20,000 people how its done

The message for little Colin Barnett was pretty clear on Sunday when approximately 20,000 people turned up for the Wilderness Society’s Concert for the Kimberley.  But was he listening?  Does he ever listen?  Do any politicians ever listen? Read the rest of this entry »

At Risk… James Price Point is just the beginning

This Sunday afternoon in Fremantle is the Wilderness Society Concert for the Kimberley, specifically, James Price Point which is the current hot spot.  The day starts at 1.30pm with a March through Fremantle down to the Esplanade Park for the concert itself, where we will have John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins and Dr Bob Brown will be speaking.  The best bit is that its all for free but of course donations are welcome and its for a fantastic cause.  Bring your dancing shoes and put your hands up for the Kimberley!

Illegal activity at JPP ©Nigel Gaunt 2011

Amazing News for all Western Australians (except Colin) and in fact all in the world who care about James Price Point and the future of the KImberley Region.  The State Governments recent underhanded stance of threatening compulsory acquisition unless the Traditional owners of JPP handed over their land for industrial rape and pillage has been declared illegal by the Australian High Court.  Its back to square one for Woodside and their pocket politicians.

This is a major Victory against the might and political power of corporations and their ability to simply buy what they want regardless of any environmental, cultural and moral rights, and it brings to light in very plain terms the sheer incompetence of the current WA state Government. Read the rest of this entry »

James Price Point looking North from the Gas precinct… clearly a place of no significance

The Exhibit for James Price Point held up in Broome recently was a huge success, due to the hard work of those involved, Nigel Gaunt, Helen Bailey, Rod Hartvigsen to name just the three i know of…
I know there were many more as it was a huge venture.  You can watch a video of the opening night shot by Rod right here.

Hopefully this exhibition will travel down to Perth and then onto the rest of Australia, the more people who see it the better.  The only reason this abhorrent gas proposal has gotten this far is the isolation of the Kimberley and that not enough people realise what we will lose.

The battle is not over, but we are winning.

The exhibition is up on the wall, the programs are all printed and its only 3pm, i’ve got time to spare… so i thought i’d share what i’ve put on the wall at the beginning of the images.  I’m sure i’ll offend somebody, but, some people are just easy to offend.  lets see.

Download the pdf here

James Price Point looking South towards the Gas Precinct… This is where they want to put it!

The Kimberley – A Photographic Exploration

The Kimberley gets into your blood with the red pindan, it simply becomes a part of you, and you become a small part of it.  It is a difficult place to leave and it will always call you back. Read the rest of this entry »

The fight for  James Price Point continues.  The police have now begun arresting the protesters for what they call an illegal action… ie: getting in the way of the woodside bulldozers.

So the protesters are being arrested for illegally stopping Woodside from clearing land  they have no approvals to clear…  The democratic process in action, seems like Woodsides vote is worth more than mine.

Colin Barnett has told the protesters to move along, because, they have made their point and now its time to let Woodside get on with the job…  If the protesters have made their point it seems Colin may have missed it.

Below is an image (courtesy of Wil Thomas) from the air of what Woodside have achieved with a bulldozer in only one day of clearing.  and all this without any  developement approvals at all.  I wonder if they would let me take a Bulldozer up there and clear a bit of land, Maybe for another gas plant i’m thinking of building…

This is merely exploration…

The Kimberley Marine Parks the  West Australian Government have proposed in the far North Kimberley region of Camden Sound are part of   the worlds largest Humpback Whale nurseries.  They are doing this as an attempt to distract the Australian people from the real issue of industrialising the Kimberley, beginning with the enormous James Price Point Kimberley gas project. They are trying to buy us off.  How the two are connected beats me, instead of saying the Kimberley is unique and we will protect it all (as should be the case)  they have said, the Kimberley is unique, so we’ll put aside a bit of it before we set about ruining the rest.  Obviously these words are mine, but if you read the documents you’ll see that my paraphrasing is correct.

The Far North Kimberley Coast, Western Australia

The Marine Sanctuaries as they are proposed are woefully inadequate with only 13% of it offering any real protection from commercial fishing and other industrial activities, which of course defeats its own purpose.  It becomes a Sanctuary in name only until our pro multinational government decides to sell it off to the highest bidder.

Until the 1st of February you get to have a say on what you think of the  proposal, so go to this link, have a read of the letter, do some research, look at some maps and if you agree, submit it.

Low tide at Dawn on the Kimberley Coast

I have been up to the Kimberley many times, and 2 years ago i had the opportunity to go on a boat trip through the Far north and see a lot of this isolated and beautiful coast that you can only get to from a boat.  It really is like nowhere else on Earth,  a unique place that should  be preserved.  The only reason this government  can get away with selling off the Kimberley is that few people have seen it and so most don’t know how special it is and  what we would be giving up.

I want to be able to show my Grandchildren the Kimberley, the wild untamed Kimberley, not a barren industrial dump that it will become if these greedy and unthinking men get their way.  Do yourself a favour, if you’ve not been to the Kimberley, go.  it will get into your blood and touch your soul the way few places can, and then you too  will know why this is one place we cant let the greedy bastards ruin.

Early morning light reflected off the King Leopold sandstone cliffs

The Cottesloe rally for the Kimberley was yesterday, and considering the heat (35 degrees…) it was a pretty good turn out, i’m not good at estimating numbers, but i would have said 300-400 people were there.

Most people opted for the shade around the edges

All the wilderness groups worked together to put on a well organised show of unity, it was just a shame the heat was so intense so early, i think that stopped a lot of people from showing up.  I know they were expecting much bigger numbers from the responses they had from facebook and other social network news, so if you were there, well done, if you were going to come but didn’t…  What happened?  Don’t you think saving the Kimberley from going the way of the Pilbara Coast is worth sweating a bit for?

A sweltering day… 35degrees at 11am

I really can’t stress this enough, unless they are forcibly stopped by overwhelming public opinion, the Barnett Government will ruin the Kimberley forever.  This is not what Colin Barnett claims is, “a pinprick on the landscape”  this is a giant, polluting, ecology destroying industrial zone that is going to cover more than 20 square kilometres and stretch 7km out to sea, right smack bang in the middle of one of the last pristine wilderness areas left on earth. That is just the beginning, there are at least 5 other projects in the pipeline that will piggy back off this one, moving right into the heart of the Kimberley.

We shouldn’t have to fight our own Government to get them to do the right thing, and raping the Kimberley is not the right thing for anybody except a few multinational corporations who will simply disappear when the minerals run out, leaving desolation and destruction in their wake.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we were remembered as the generation who saved the Kimberley from corporate greed rather than the one who let it be destroyed?

Don’t forget, the Kimberley Rally to show public opinion about the proposed  James Price Point Gas project is this Sunday, 28th November at 11am.  It is happening at the Cottesloe Civic Centre in Napier St, this is Colin Barnett’s own electorate so it will be interesting to see if he dares to show his face.  Tell everyone you know about it, lets get a bit of public opinion stirred up about this, before it’s too late!

If you care about the Kimberley, and you dont want your heritage destroyed by uncaring greedy fat bastards, you’ll be there.  The proposed Kimberley Gas Project will be an enormous loss for all of us, don’t let them get away with it.

Well today Shell Oil announced it had sold 30% of its controlling stake in Woodside Petroleum (10% of the total shares on issue), and they are open to offers for their remaining 24% stake.  You might remember Woodside is one of the major players in the current bid to turn James Price Point into a major industrial precinct and is a big favourite of Colin Barnett. (The Australian.  The Melbourne Age.)

Now whether or not this fire sale has anything to do with the building groundswell of resistance to this current land grab at James Price Point is anybodies guess, but it is interesting timing, could it be that Shell no longer wants to be a part of such un unpopular and imoral project?

The case or not, its good incentive to add your voice to the fray by coming down to the Kimberley Rally at the  Cottesloe Civic Centre on Sunday the 28th of November at 11am.  Check out the info here.  Its going to be a great day of positive action, come along and find out whats going on and what you can do about the proposed Kimberley Gas Project.  You don’t have to chain yourself to a bulldozer to help, there are many things you can do to get your voice heard, come along on the 28th and be a part of it.  I’ll be there, I’ll be the one wearing the orange T-shirt!