Dear Neville,
Well, we’ve all caused a bit of a stir at Parliament House in Canberra this week.
On Monday we launched a TV Advertising blitz on Sky News fronted by Alan Jones slamming proposed changes by the Abbott Government to Federal environment laws.
This was possible thanks to the generosity of people from right across the country. And it’s going gangbusters! If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here.
Sky News beams directly into the offices of all Federal politicians, so we decided to take our chance to send them a very loud and direct message that they couldn’t ignore.
The changes proposed by Tony Abbott will rip up the basic legal rights of communities to object to dangerous mining projects and prevent us from taking action to defend our finest national assets.
As Alan says in the advert ‘I may live nowhere near the Liverpool Plains or the Great Barrier Reef, but I sure as hell am concerned that they are protected‘.
Big thanks to all the wonderful people who’ve donated to get these running. And if you haven’t done so yet, could you chip in so we can keep this thing rolling?
The ads are already making headlines right around the country*. They’ve put the Government on notice and built powerful momentum to have this divisive plan taken off the table.
Most importantly, they make it clear that the Abbott Government has drastically misjudged the full scale and depth of opposition to their plans from a very wide cross-section of the community.
Already this week, the Federal Labor Party has come out opposing the changes, and many key cross-bench Senators have been wary of them from the outset.
With that in mind, next week we’ll be heading to Canberra with landholders and community groups from across four states to meet with Federal MPs and keep the pressure on Tony Abbott to drop this plan.
We’ve already got meetings organised with 35 politicians, because we know that every vote will count when this issue hits the Senate, and we need to push hard at every turn to knock it over once and for all.
We’ll be getting back to you next week with an update on our Canberra trip, and in the mean time, if you think you could chip in to keep this ad rolling, we’d be enormously grateful.
Many thanks,
Phil
*Sydney Morning Herald: ‘Quite Simply Unbelievable’: Alan Jones Fronts Advertising Campaign
The Australian: Alan Jones Heads Lock the Gate Attack on Environment Law Reform
The Land: Jones Fronts Lock the Gate Campaign
The New Daily: Alan Jones Turns on Liberals
The Guardian Australia: Alan Jones Becomes Voice of Campaign Fighting Environment Law Change
Business Insider: Broadcaster Alan Jones is Ripping In To The Abbott Government
Ps These ads stole the thunder of the Minerals Council of Australia on Monday, as they launched yet another ludicrous public relations blitz titled ‘Coal is Amazing’ (I kid you not!). They are relying on the deep pockets of mining billionaires to win the day, but with your support we can take it up to them, and beat them at their own game.
Lock the Gate Alliance
http://www.lockthegate.org.au/ |
