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gasbag bulletin 16 APRIL 2013

REJOICE!
Our esteemed Premier, Colin Barnett, is probably the only person to have come out of this fiasco heartbroken. If other hearts are broken too, he only has himself to blame. Colin Barnett chose James Price Point, he insisted on it until the very end, despite all the evidence that his choice was wrong, wrong, wrong, and when all the analysts had been telling us for months if not years that his hub wasnt going to happen; indeed, he is still insisting on it, like a child clutching an empty cone and bawling for the ice cream that has fallen out, when everyone else has walked away. Colin Barnett was the one who promised the world to Traditional Owners and persuaded them that their lives were going to be miraculously transformed by a gas hub that didnt yet and never would exist. He was the one who presided over what must be one of the most disgraceful corruptions of process in a modern democracy. He was the one who, in his desperation to have his way, by cheating if necessary, changed the rules and the laws as they became inconvenient to his purpose. It was on his watch that the riot police came with their boots and batons and broke up a peaceful blockade. Colin Barnett is responsible for all the grief this community has endured, and for the disappointment of those who were taken in by his rash promises. He even attempted to change the language, turning a

THE UNHEARTBROKEN

committee into a single man. He is guilty of hubris, and hubris is punished by the gods. The wave of relief that washed over Broome when the news came through that the gas hub was off fell short of euphoria. I wondered why I wasnt more excited. After talking to a few other people who felt the same, it hit me; our excitement was tempered by sadness, and by anger. Sadness at what we have been through for four years, discounting the four years of build-up before that, and anger at the harm that has been done to our community and to the country around Walmadany, ravaged to no purpose. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of good people have devoted so much of their recent lives to fighting the gas hub, forced to expend themselves just to maintain the status quo only to find that the status is no longer as it was. While part of our community is more united than ever, there is a great rent down the middle. Relationships have been shredded, like the bush near Walmadany. As I looked around at the joyful faces at the rally outside the eerily silent Woodside offices on April 12, I recognized so many who had given to this cause, in so many different ways. There were the ones who had been arrested, some of whom now have a police record; the ones who had printed so many clothes and T-shirts that we never ran out; the many who had stood firm at the

blockade and the determined few who kept the camp going for month after month; the hundreds who had turned up faithfully to rallies, fundraisers, vigils; those who were prepared to put their identities and reputations on the line, and the creative ones who found clever new ways to express their opposition to a fatally flawed project. There were those who produced such wonderful artifacts hard science, project information, documents, presentations, events, petitions, post cards, banners, posters, films, books, happenings, stunts we could fill a museum with all weve done. And there, up front, were the surprisingly many who led the campaign or the protests at different stages and in various ways. I thought too of all the people who dont live here, yet stood behind us and fought for us on their own or other peoples turf: the musicians who played for us and those who attended gigs, signed our petitions, donated or wrote to us and wished us well. If some people are heartbroken because reckless promises were not fulfilled, imagine how many more people would have been heartbroken, and how much greater the heartbreak, if they had been. Thanks to everyone who has read and passed on Gasbag over the past four years. Its been fun.

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