Environmental rally

March 30, 1994
Issue 
137

Environmental rally

By Anthony Thirlwall

ADELAIDE — Nearly 500 people gathered for a rally outside Parliament House on March 24 to oppose the Hindmarsh Island Bridge project, the Craigburn Farm subdivision and the development of the Mt Osmond open space in Adelaide's east.

The environmental, community and trade union activists who attended the rally heard from a broad range of speakers.

Davey Thomason, an organiser from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, spoke on the need to change our relationship to nature, saying, "The land doesn't belong to us; rather we belong to the land". He explained the role the union had played in the Hindmarsh Island dispute by providing solidarity and helping to establish picket lines that have so far delayed the construction of the bridge.

The government announced last month that the bridge project would proceed because otherwise it faced a compensation bill of at least $12.5 million.

The demonstration ended at Westpac's head office, where a letter, urging the bank not to sue the state government if the bridge was not built, was presented to management.

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