Mullumbimby Community Action Network

Originally published 27Nov2012

mullum-zine

Make Mullum Gasfield Free! No CSG!!

Newsletter 116
27 November 2012


Greetings!

Welcome to new people on our mailing list from the Mullum Music Festival.


PUBLIC MEETING 28 Nov 6 pm – BSC Chambers, Mullum
One more sleep to go!

Our meeting has a twin focus – so it will have to be a very tight meeting with not much time for discussion. There will be 10 mins for Q & A.

The object of the meeting is to provide info (film and speakers) from which we will take a vote:
Do we want to make Mullum Gasfield Free? (only locals vote – we will read out area numbers with street names so you know if you"re included as ‘a local"). Amica Sanday (csgfreebyronshireat gmaildotcom) will be enlisting support for those further afield, so your area can get declared too at a later date.

After the vote we will go outside and find our area (Amica"s group will probably be inside) and someone will be nominated to be Coordinator of a road survey group in each area.
Please be ready to offer support to survey your area or street: the questions to ask your neighbours are: Do you want your road/land gasfield free? (ie coal seam gas or tight sands gas). (Yes, no, or don"t know). This is definitely a neighbour-to-neighbour form of contact which evokes discussion of the issues; and the end result is MULLUMBIMBY IS PROTECTED BY COMMUNITY! Watch the DVD (avail at meeting) or check the websites at the bottom of this message for info about the issues.

The object of this meeting is to raise funds, collect contact details and lead to a follow up action meeting. I will put details of street areas and coordinators in next newsletter.

Again, please check out the Lock the Gate, Lock the Roads, Protect the Region strategy on:
http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/HOW-TO-GUIDE-CSG-Free-Communities.pdf



FUNDRAISING:
Can you please bring some finger food to help our campaign?
Tee shirts, LocktheGate signs and DVDs will be on sale.



SUBMISSION-WRITING TEA PARTY – 2 pm Sat 1st Dec

MULLUM COMMUNITY GARDENS
Community engagement over CSG begins!
(I have had confirmation from ALC that it is actually CSG that they are seeking).



SUBMISSION –WRITING POINTS TO HELP
Are on http://www.mullumaction.org The Public Comments Process document provided by the Dept Resources is extremely disempowering; I ended up feeling like there was nothing I was allowed to say as ‘prospecting" is different from ‘production". How can you write a convincing objection to someone in Sydney looking at samples from the waterboard on his desktop? (see below).

Just write what you feel – we are entitled to express concerns about how CSG mining will affect us. Let them know what sites are important to you, are there threatened species in your area, are you a farmer, will local events (Blues Fest/Splendour) be affected, is there fear of not knowing what to expect which can have a strong impact on families, individuals, communities. What about waterways, air quality, rainwater quality, tourism, subsistence farming etc etc (see http://www.mullumaction.org for full list of suggestions).



ABORIGINAL LAND COUNCIL

The Media Manager of ALC Chris Graham has assured me that they will not be drilling in Byron/Tweed shires over the next year. All they will be working on is samples collected from the Electricity Board, Water Board and private exploration companies that are already existing. For some reason I find that hard to swallow. If you see any drilling trucks, rigs or any vehicles with logo LUCAS and some red stripes just in front of the name, please let me know as soon as possible.
We have a picture of a drilling truck on http://www.mullumaction.org. Furthermore they could be on their way to Grafton.... alert http://www.LocktheGate.org.au Metgasco are corehole drilling a site at Glenugie, nr Grafton, much to the distress of the locals. They need support if you"d like to pop down to the Clarence Valley for some peaceful direct action, non violent of course. Check http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org for directions.


SPARE Iphone?

I am suddenly having to make calls to mobiles from my landline! For me to be effective in campaigning I am going to have to overcome my resistance and get myself a mobile telephone. As I"ll be on a Gasfields bus tour, Qld, 5 days from 8 – 12 December, I will need to be able to email from it too.
Does anyone have an old one knocking around to donate to the cause? Anyone want to offer to pay my bill? (Well, its worth asking!).


FINALLY
See you tomorrow down the chambers, 6 pm.
Don"t forget the cake
and what about bringing a banner or placard
for a nice colourful representation of your feelings for the press?
Let the rest of Oz know just how you feel about Byron Shire becoming a COAL SEAM GASLAND.
Let"s empower and inspire ourselves, growing an exciting new social movement
Local solidarity through joint actions!
This is a genuine legacy moment.
As John Lennon sang: POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

Cheers
Deborah

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More Information:
• http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org/
• http://coalseamgasnews.org/
• http://www.keerronggassquad.org/
• http://www.gasileaks.com/
• http://lockthegate.org.au/
• http://www.stoppilligacoalseamgas.com.au/
• http://www.scenicrim.qld.gov.au/coal-mining-and-coal-seam-gas
• http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/coal-seam-gas-by-the-numbers/
• http://stop-csg-illawarra.org/
• http://www.ccag.org.au/
• http://bimblebox.org/
• http://ntn.org.au/
• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=561260378#!/CsgFreeNorthernRivers
• http://www.youtube.com/user/csgfreenr/videos