15,000 rally to save Ningaloo Reef

BY NIKKI ULASOWSKI

PERTH — Fremantle streets were filled with protesters on December 1 as 15,000 people mobilised to oppose the proposed development of a marina resort at the fragile and unique Ningaloo Reef, in north-west WA.

Speakers addressing the rally included author Tim Winton, former NBA player Luc Longley and Ningaloo Reef campaign co-ordinator Paul Gamblin.

"So who exactly needs this resort?", Winton asked the protesters. "The Coral Coast Marina Development company, that's who. One company. That's what all the fuss is about. They say they're only doing it for the sake of the reef. Give me a break! Maybe they come from the Jerry McGuire school of environmentalism.

"Imagine that school motto: Show me the money! That's how green this proposal is. It's another greenwash. They'll build whatever they can get away with. If there hadn't been citizens and agencies to keep an eye on them all this time, the hole might have been dug years ago."

"Money buys a lot but it doesn't buy what you people have", he added. "It doesn't buy guts. It doesn't buy spirit. It doesn't deliver a shared sense of the common good. And in the end it doesn't buy the truth."

From Green Left Weekly, December 11, 2002.

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From GLW issue 520