The government has supported plans to open up the Beetaloo sub-basin, south-east of Darwin, for fracking, something environmentalists say will increase Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 13 per cent.
The protesters followed Scott Morrison to the council chambers where they chanted loudly from outside the building in an attempt to drown out his press conference with Senate candidate Jacinta Price, Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson and the former mayor Damien Ryan who is running for Lingiari.
Morrison dismissed the protesters as “not a large number” and said it wasn’t uncommon to attract dissenters.
“We’re a broad and diverse country and everybody’s entitled to their view,” he said.
“There are some loud voices out there today. But there are many, many quiet voices all around this country, which want to ensure that we have a strong economy on the basis of balanced and sensible economic policy.”
Price appeared more upset, saying the protesters had come from interstate without any solutions for her community and “have no right to carry on like this”.
“This is out and out disrespect for an elder of our country, our prime minister,” she said.
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At Labor’s stop at Purple House, an Indigenous-owned and run health service, Wong noted people had mentioned the fracking issue as she walked through the mall – “I was at the market today, unlike Mr Morrison,” she said.
The prime minister received a different kind of prickly reception at the Alice Springs Desert Park where he went to announce $1 million for the conservation of bilbies in the NT. But bilbies, being nocturnal animals, were not awake to thank Morrison, so he met an echidna instead.
Wong said voters in Lingiari, where more than 40 per cent of the population is Indigenous, needed to look beyond the razzle-dazzle of announcements and look at which party had the better plan for First Nations people.
“[Morrison] knows how to do this, he is making more announcements. He will make a lot of announcements in this campaign,” she said.
“First Nations people, First Nations communities of this land need a prime minister who will take responsibility and deliver on his promises for all Australians.”
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A prickly reception for the PM as both camps descend on Alice Springs
Source: Philippines Alive
