'Environment before profit' in Brisbane
By Zanny Begg
BRISBANE — The World Environment Day rally, to be held on June 3 with the theme "environment before profit", will be addressed by the CFMEU, the Wilderness Society, Resistance, HEMP, Brisbane Rainforest Action Group and Veto Eastern Tollways (VETO).
Resistance activist Nicole Kamp said the rally would demand an end to woodchipping old-growth forests. "Ninety five per cent of old growth forests have been cleared", she explained, "and now is the time to halt the destruction". Activists will be demanding the setting up of a national reserve system, the development of paper fibre alternatives such as hemp and the creation of sustainable jobs for timber workers.
Halting the proposed eastern tollway, which threatens to destroy a large koala habitat, will also be a feature of the rally. Kamp, who lives in Rochedale, a suburb which will be affected by the tollway, says "the government must improve the public transport system rather than build more roads".
David Keogh, from VETO, will address public transport issues. VETO has hit the news recently when activists with dead koalas chased Labor politicians around Brisbane in a protest against the tollway.
The rally will also highlight issues such as urban pollution, the Tarkine Wilderness, unions and the environment, the decriminalisation of hemp and Aboriginal land rights.
Following speakers at Roma Street, the rally will march through the city to Albert Park for a ZzZ fair day with artists including Judy Small, Fabulous Nobodies, the Melniks, the Soul Miners, Dream Poppies and Chalk. There will be a Global Dance tent and performance art by HEMP.