Dear Editor,
Your October edition is remarkable. Craig Shepherd says “…if we don’t start looking after ourselves locally and nationally, we’ll be done. You can’t eat coal and gas”. Di Rayson trumpets solar and wind power and the near demise of fossil fuels in Germany.Aspen Charlesworth says “Let’s be gas-field free”.
And you published it all. It looks as though the people of this area live in the 21st Century. Thank you for doing this.
I enclose a copy of a letter I have sent today to the Prime Minister. It is as concerned as you are about the fate of our country people, their communities, and their land.
The issues bout which I have written are equally applicable to the States, since both State and Federal Governments seem to think only in terms of spending money on the big cities. One need think only of the vast sums given to Randwick Racecourse, when the roads in our area are in a shocking condition, and of the money Rob Oakeshott secured for us which was taken away by Abbott, and only given back to us two years later, for which the Coalition claims the credit as though Rob had never existed.
You will see that my letter to Mr Turnbull starts off with a reference to the AGL AGM. If all who object to inappropriate mining and CSG had a few shares in AGL they could attend the AGM and voice their protest against this foul industry and its cruel treatment of farmers and the inhabitants of areas where they operate. They treat these people much as white people treated the Aborigines for over 150 years: “we can make better use of their land than they do, and make moremoney out of it, so let’s get rid of them”.
Some may take the view that having shares as a protest might be seen as a conflict of interest (quite what with I am not sure), but as soon as you acquire them you announce the fact in the press, and tell AGL, so that no-one can say you are acting covertly. You state exactly why you have bought them, you point out that the dividends will not cover your expenses of going to their AGMs, and you declare that you will pay the expenses of going out of your own pocket, not the taxpayers’, if you are in an official position.
The Board of AGL go to great lengths to prevent anyone speaking at any length against their CSG wells and coal-fired power stations, but it may be that the new CEO, Andrew Vesey would welcome support in his efforts to drive the company to clean energy, or what he calls ‘disruptive technology’.
The adverse publicity AGO would incur for trying to shut up a well-known author, actor, MP or Senator would be devastating. I should be pleased to discuss this strategy with you, which could also be employed against Santos, Metgasco, BHP, and all the other predators.
Yours sincerely,
Terry Stanton
Tinonee