Are Anti-Adani Protesters Who We’re Told They Are?
By Shane Primrose
The people who step-up to stop Adani with the group Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC) often find themselves at the centre of a media circus. It’s part of the game they must play, but too often they’re grossly misrepresented; the popular press’ opinion pieces, written by people they’ve never met, label them as “eco-terrorists” and “dole bludgers.”
The first time the Courier Mail published an accurate story on someone from FLAC people was inadvertent. It concerned the rogue horseman who ran over a woman at Bob Brown’s Stop Adani Convoy rally at Clermont.
My friend Hayley was photographed as the first responder to the injured woman. It’s a brilliant photo, capturing the compassion on Hayley’s face as she began emergency first aid.
In the moments before it was taken, I watched Hayley try to stop the horseman entering the showground. Crowded as it was with elderly people, children and animals, Hayley foresaw the danger and did all she could to prevent it.
The irony is that the Courier Mail didn’t know that Hayley is one of the people they’re so fond of vilifying. It portrayed her as she really is; someone who wants to make a positive difference in our world, who is willing to stand up to injustice.
Through my own time with FLAC, I’ve come to know Hayley well. She’s someone who inspires me every day to be better.
Speaking at a convoy event in Airlie Beach, she told the crowd,
“Today I stand before you not as a greenie punk, not as an eco-terrorist or a green grub, not even as a protester. I stand here today as a mother, who holds grave fears for the kind of planet my son will inherit.”
That’s the real Hayley. If you take the time to sit with her or any of the other brave people at FLAC you’ll see they’re not so different from you. They are not eco-terrorists or green grubs. They are just people trying to do what’s best for their families and communities. They’re here to help and will do so wherever they can.
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12 comments
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New England Cocky
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DrakeN
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Baby Jewels
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Alcibiades
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Max Gross
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Judith
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Kaye Lee
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Keitha Granville
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Alcibiades
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Peter F
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Josephus
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Paul Davis
Return to home pageAny person who disagrees with the editorial line of News Ltd publications is regarded by that editorial staff as communist conspirators, eco vandals or mindless protesters intent upon overthrowing the undeserving wealthy who have earned their financial well-being with the assistance of the taxation gifts from the LNP misgovernments. There is only the News Ltd view of the world, regardless of whether it is well informed or imaginary from the twisted mind of the editorial desk; every other view is wrong because News Ltd says it is wrong and no other reason is required.
The demonising of those who promote unquestionable truth has a very long history.
“Killing the Messenger” is a very popular pastime, played by everyone for whom facts are inconvenient, reality frightening and truth an anaethema.
The Abrahamic religions have excelled at it and still play it for all its worth; commerce, too, takes great delight in taking down any ‘contrarian’ evidence of their malfaesance; and politics – is just politics, where the most murderous of character assassins ply their trade.
While we, the ordinary people, get on with our lives, happy in our collective gullibility, “thumbs in bums and minds in neutral” as the saying goes, those who profit from “playing fast and loose” with the truth gradually destroy the very earth on which we depend, tearing out the feathers which give it flight simply to line their nests – the very nests which they befoul with neither care nor consideration.
As their filthy excrement slowly trickles down.
Spot on! Not just Hayley, these people are genuine, authentic people who genuinely care about the planet. Activists, if I can call them that, have always stood up for what’s right, but often unpopular, slowly but surely bringing society to a better place. If it weren’t for activists, women would still not have the vote. Thank you Hayley and all activists, for putting your neck on the line for the rest of us.
A Labor government must – as matter of national urgency – legislate to dismantle the Murdoch media stranglehold
There is an argument that delaying tactics, rather than outright vetoes, are being employed to avoid the penalty that a foreign company, eg Adani, is now entitled to claim if an Australian government enacts laws that affect the company’s bottom line. Could this be true?
Judith,
IMO as an old woman in jammies who reads too much, that has been their plan all along. The project is not commercially viable so they are hoping our government will go back on approvals so they can sue us. I think that is what Bill Shorten has been trying to tell us all along. Without government subsidies, and Paluscez has been strong about vetoing those, it seems extremely unlikely to go ahead. I think Clive Palmer’s latest push has been to try to influence that – he also wants government subsidies and infrastructure built to help him make a profit. And when things go bad, the losses are socialised as capitalists are so good at doing.
Shane, try not to worry about the name-calling and the insults. I truly appreciate everyone who contributes to the defence of our environment in whatever way they can.
I watched a piece yesterday about a cattle farmer and the groundwater under the Galilee basin which will be all but destroyed by the mines. Are they ecoterrorists and dole bludgers too ? There is a raft of people from all walks of life who know that these giant coal mines are dinosaurs that have no place in the future of this country.
Get shot of them, embrace renewables, protect our environment before it vanishes.
Britain goes a week without coal power saying this is ‘the new normal’ SMH
Yes, Kaye, The Coalition know that Adani is a front for Gina , and will push for it as much as they can.
It doesn’t matter that the stated intention of Adani is to have their system fully automated with absolute minimum staff, the Coalition still encourage the ill informed to believe that ADANI offers thousands of jobs.
The ALP know that the coalition will create another lie even greater that the ‘carbon tax’ scare campaign if any step goes beyond impeding progress. It requires a very careful balancing act to prevent Adani from being compensated in any way at all when it does eventually fall over.
It is a class war. ABC radio today: In the towns near the many mines planned to follow Adani Carmichael ( the plans of Gina and Clive ) locals see the empty shops, await jobs for their sons, say they love Christensen because he is one of them, love Morrison because good marketing man that he is he too is ‘one of them’ Our Trump, in short. They care nothing about sea rise, do not imagine the desperate masses , their children, seeking clean water, or any water at all.
Up here in Hooterville, north queensland, we rubes believe anything shysters like Adani, Palmer and Reinhardt tell us, aided and abeted by their paid shills Canarvan, Laundy, Christensen, etc. Palmer put hundreds of people out of work refused to pay legal entitlements which impacted heavily on the economy of the region, shrugged his shoulders saying “nothing personal just business” and yet here he is again and we roll out the red carpet.
We refuse to believe that nearly half of our Ergon electricity comes from renewables, we refuse to believe a local smelter operates exclusively on solar power. These things are impossible because only coal, good local queensland coal, can provide ‘base load’ power, because Matt said heavy industry needs real power, coal power. Its like all the other lies those commie pinko leftie greenie nutters say …. the barrier reef is not dying, fertiliser run off doesnt do any harm to marine life. In fact there’s plenty of prawns and barra in the fishshops here. Bloody protesting idiots. We understand perfectly that if you spend billions on this climate nonsense you will destroy our economy and we wont have jobs.