Explaining environmental destruction to our grandchildren.

Colin Barnett is adamant that the LNG industrialization of the Dampier Peninsula will go ahead irrespective of any opposition. Many Kimberley people are against the destruction of our pristine coastline, but are adopting a fatalistic attitude: “It’s going to happen anyway, so get on board!” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Elsewhere in Australia, Gunn’s pulp mill in Tasmania was given the go ahead by the State Government, but is now on shaky ground mainly because it’s so unpopular with the people of the region. Foreign investors are withdrawing interest and the Federal Government is meticulously upholding environmental standards. We all remember Tasmania’s divisive dam’s issue of the 1980s which thankfully was defeated.

I am appealing to all those in opposition to the proposed social and environmental destruction of the Dampier Peninsula to maintain their optimism and trust in people power.

Let’s say Barnett gets his own way, a fast-forward picture twenty years from now will see Broome becoming an extension of the Pilbara. At least then, I can look my grandchildren in the eye and say “I was opposed to this madness!”

Damian Kelly, Broome