On Friday, more than 300,000 of you rallied behind an unprecedented call for climate justice.1 Some of the youngest leaders in the country stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the custodians of the oldest continuing culture on earth.
These Traditional Owners are leading the fight against fracking. It’s a violation of country. It poisons the water. It kills the land. It destroys the climate.
And they’re calling for your support.
Origin’s rigs are arriving now to frack remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory — threatening to release the equivalent climate pollution of 50 new coal-fired power stations.2
But there’s a way to stop it. As a retail energy giant, Origin has spent a fortune building up a clean, green image. If we can expose Origin’s fracking plans to their valued customers, they’ll have to back off.
So we’re supporting a major ‘Power of Country’ tour continuing around the country next week, featuring the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of the land Origin wants to frack. They’ll travel through major cities packed with Origin customers, building support and momentum for a major protest at Origin’s Annual General Meeting in Sydney.
Their story is powerful, we need to amplify it: with mobile billboards, plane banners, flyers and more everywhere they go — to force massive public and media attention onto Origin’s dangerous and dirty fracking plans.
Can you chip in to stop Origin’s fracking from destroying climate and country?
Origin’s whole fracking scheme is based on a lie. In their Environmental Management Plan, they said there was no objection to fracking from the Traditional Owners of the land.3 The ‘Power of Country’ tour exposes that lie – and exposes it to Origin’s customers and investors.
We know this approach can work. Early this year GetUp members chipped in to fund a billboard that exposed Origin’s behind-the-scenes fracking. Origin got so freaked out they sent a threatening legal letter, as well as requesting a meeting.
So now, we want to send that billboard on tour with Traditional Owners — going from city to city, media event to media event, until it all arrives for a major rally at Origin’s annual general meeting for maximum impact (and we may need legal support if Origin calls out the lawyers again!).
Chip in to show Origin that fracking country is bad for business.
If Origin goes forward with its fracking plans, the damage to land, water and country is irreversible. If all that climate killing methane is released, the damage to our climate is unthinkable.4
But Origin cares massively about their brand, because it’s important for their bottom line. That’s why this is a fight we can win. Here’s what we need to do it:
- Mobile billboards (the one we know Origin hates) – traveling with the ‘Power of Country’ tour bus as it arrives in major cities like Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney — including for Origin’s Annual General Meeting.
- Plane banners – Taking our message to the skies — with plane banners exposing Origin’s unpopular fracking plans.
- Tour support – trucks, speakers and more for a major rally in Sydney for Origin’s Annual General Meeting, along with the tour bus and accommodation for the 8,000 kilometre trip for Aboriginal Traditional Owners taking on Origin.
- Legal Support – in case Origin calls out the lawyers again to attack the billboards or the Traditional Owners speaking truth to power.
Can you chip in to support the campaign to protect climate and country from Origin’s fracking plans?
There’s power in country and the frontline voices who speak for it. There’s power in our sun, wind and water. But in order to draw on it, we have to protect it, together. Right now that means standing with the Traditional Owners who’ve protected country for thousands of years.
By Larissa and Nicole, for the GetUp Team
Larissa is a Widjabul woman who leads all of Getup’s First Nations work.
References:
[1] “Global climate strike sees ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Australians rally across the country“, ABC News, 21 September 2019.
[2] “Labor’s support for ‘carbon disaster’ in Beetaloo basin condemned“, The Guardian, 26 April 2019.
[3] “Approved Environment Management Plans: Origin Energy Beetaloo Basin Kyalla Civil Construction, Northern Territory Government“, 6 June 2019.
[4] “Fracking causing rise in methane emissions, study finds“, The Guardian, 15 August 2019.
