Githabal on Gas gets too Close for comfort!

Jarmbi Githabul and friends (Photo credit: lockthegate)

Gas mining divides Githanbul people

 By Elloise Farrow Smith and Joanne Shoebridge

The gas industry is dividing an indigenous community on the north coast.

The chairman of the Githabul Nation Aboriginal Corporation and mining consultant Trevor Close says gas represents big opportunities for local indigenous people.

"The gas company would put money into a trust fund that would be used for language programs, education programs, scholarships, but most of all training the young Bundjalung people in how to engage in the natural gas industry in New South Wales.

"If there was a gas industry in New South Wales, mainly in like the Northern Rivers area, I predict it would employ about 30,000 people in the local region".
Mr Close says consumers across the state would benefit.

"The Githabul people, we're a Christian community and we hate to see other families across New South Wales suffer with high electricity prices and there was a way we could come together with a company, a good gas company like Metgasco, to reduce the cost of living in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.

"I'm sure that the Githabul elders and myself as the chairman of the corporation would support that proposal."
But Githabul elder Aunty Gloria Williams says many in the community do not share the chairman's view.

She says Githabul people are custodians of the land and will be blamed for what happens to it.

"We're the ones that's made to look at like a crime on our own country when things go wrong and it will go wrong because it's gone wrong everywhere else.

"It will go wrong here on Githabul country as it did in all the other countries; over in America, up in Tara, it will go wrong here and then you know what, it will be Githabul who will be made to look like the crime".

Aunty Gloria says traditional practices could be threatened by a gas mining industry.

"We still practise our traditional methods of hunting, fishing and gathering and we do this on a regular basis and we believe the gas is going to destroy our waterways, destroy our lands and destroy us as a people.

"Once you open up one avenue it will open up all the other gas pipes to come in and mine the hell out of our country", she said.

"The main reason that most of us agreed to native title is that we thought that we were getting the land back so that we could protect it and maintain it, in it's most natural form.

"Our spirituality lays in the land, this is an act of genocide, it's act of killing our spirituality....I mean sure we get some dollars out of it but how long is that going to last".

Githabul Elder Aunty Gloria Williams told ABC North Coast that the Githabul Nation Aboriginal Corporation was under investigation by the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC).

ORIC issued a statement to ABC North Coast: " ORIC's practice is not to confirm or deny whether a complaint has been received or if a corporation is under investigation.  

ORIC only comments on outcomes of regulatory action, which is
 available on our website at www.oric.gov.au ."

A document posted on the ORIC website shows two auditors were appointed in December 2013 to investigate the finances of the corporation.

Githabel Elder Arrested while performing Ceremony.

Australia is a country which openly say's its come a long way.  Today it just stepped back  over two hundred years with the arrest of  Githabel elder, Kamallie.  He was arrested for spitting as he was mixing ochre to apply to his body to perform ceremony.  NSW Police in doing so,  stepped over that spiritual line and took this country back into the dark ages. 

The arrest was made at Doubtful Creek outside Kyogle.  This is the site of one of Metgasco's PEL's.  There has been a large protest mounted here before the surface area was even prepared for the compound area..  All of the protesters  are determined, some of who are well practiced from the previous two and half months at the drilling site on the Avenue Road at Glenugie in the Grafton Shire.

Really, the government has shown itself to be doing dodgy deals all over the shop when it comes to mining and its starting to fall apart at the seams.  Every bit of this smells of corruption.   When a huge percentage of the Clarence River area said no, they were not going to sit down and take this and they have followed this No through with effective non violent direct action at both sites. 

NVDA is effectively costing the Metgasco company.  This is reflected in a drop in their share price.  Today their shares were sitting at 14.5cents each.  There are a lot of people who are planning a party when the price drops to 14cents.They are going broke but in the mean time we cannot take the pressure off.  These corrupt money hungry companies stop at nothing to get what they want and stoop to the gutter to achieve their bottom line.

Lock you gate folks and stand up for your God given rights to clean water from our planet.

It appears that Forestry workers lied to the elders the day before, telling them they would return at 8am Instead during ceremony preparation, around 6.30am Police arrived and the arrest was made.
This is Bunjalung land now.  The time has come for the ancient spirits to communicate with the people into their hearts.  Every sign and every symbol counts in this gathering of wisdom for country.

The men are preparing to call their spirit men,  the woman are preparing the food.  This campaign marks the point where Metgasco have stepped into unknown spiritual territory.  What happens to them now is their responsibility. The Ancestral Grandmothers and Grandfathers are very jealous about the water.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr