Libby Connors Lock the Gate member & blogger

FootPrints for Peace are planning a community walk from Cairns to Gladstone to highlight the impact...

June is now past Mission Beach, south of Cairns, as part of her heroic 1200 kilometer walk from Cairns to Gladstone to highlight the harmful impacts of coal and gas developments on the Great Barrier Reef.

A photo of Sting to match his evocative lyrics

We Work The Black Seam This place has changed for good Your economic theory said it would It's hard for us to understand We can't give up our jobs the way we should Our blood has stained the coal We tunneled deep inside the nation's soul We matter more than pounds and pence Your economic theory makes no sense One day in a nuclear age They may understand our rage They build machines that they can't control And bury the waste in a great big hole Power was to become cheap and clean Grimy faces were never seen Deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen We work the black seam together We work the black seam together The seam lies underground Three million years of pressure packed it down We walk through ancient forest lands And light a thousand cities with our hands Your dark satanic mills Have made redundant all our mining skills You can't exchange a six inch band For all the poisoned streams in Cumberland Your economic theory makes no sense One day in a nuclear age They may understand our rage They build machines that they can't control And bury the waste in a great big hole Power was to become cheap and clean Grimy faces were never seen Deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen We work the black seam together We work the black seam together Should the children weep The turning world will sing their souls to sleep When you have sunk without a trace The universe will suck me into place One day in a nuclear age They may understand our rage They build machines that they can't control And bury the waste in a great big hole Power was to become cheap and clean Grimy faces were never seen But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen We work the black seam together We work the black seam together

The Rainbow Warrior is heading to north Queensland to protest proposed new coal ports in the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area

A great week for the Lock the Gate campaign as momentum builds across the country against the negative effects of coal and gas and LNG exports.

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/ship-still-makes-waves-shen-neng-1-recalled/1815339/

Excellent radio interview about it here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/dredging-waste-to-be-dumped-on-great-barrier-reef/4588074

So good to have some victories on csg.  A cartoon to celebrate as the fight for Gladstone and the reef continues

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&gl=au&tbm=nws&q=drew+hutton&oq=drew+hutton&gs_l=news-cc.1.0.43j43i400.4578.7750.0.9875.11.4.0.7.7.0.235.454.2-2.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.tTiUT3jE4WU

Anthony Marx did a big feature on this issue with photos.  Brought together all the issues really well but the Courier Mail confined the story to the business pages and the back half of the paper.

ABC Qld last night interviewed me by phone as Save the Reef spokesperson while the Minister was in the studio. We discussed mine water discharges and monitoring of Gladstone Harbour turbidity.

Save the Reef has been working to draw attention to the problem of dirty mine water being added to the massive volumes of flood water throwing through the Fitzroy River system and out to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.  Unfortunately Andrew keeps being reported as Greens member rather than Save the Reef spokesman.

If anything goes wrong we won't be able to point the finger of blame at any company because the Qld Govt does not know who is releasing what.  The new Temporary Licence system is a farce. 

Join us on Friday 1st February at 12 noon to show your support for the Great Barrier Reef and call on the Australian and Queensland Governments to halt the expansion of coal ports along the Reef coast. Australians need to act now and let our governments know we won’t stand by and watch while the Reef become degraded or slowly disappears. Friday 1 February, 12 midday Queensland Government Executive Building 100 George Street, Brisbane

Australian environment ministers were warned of the harm to these and other marine creatures; they put licence conditions in place which are largely unenforceable eg dredging is supposed to stop when a dead sea animal is found but the company just says that each death or diseased animal has nothing to do with them and keep dredging.