Right now the good folk at Woodford Festival are in a major ethical dilemma.
According to the Sunshine Coast Daily, it was the Queensland Folk Federation on behalf of The Dreaming, a celebration of indigenous performance, art and culture, who accepted $225,000 necessary for the Dreaming event to continue. Without the funding this important Australian cultural event won’t happen. Problem is, the board have accepted the bucks from Santos, and I’m not talking about our local purveyors of nori rolls and ear candles; I’m talking about the mining giant, Santos. And, incidentally, considering that in August this year they posted a net profit on their website of $504 million, for a half year, indicating a cool profit of potentially around a billion for this financial year, their Dreaming festival donation is like Dick Smith giving $1.
It is no doubt that those in the know at Woodford have watched the growing public outcry around CSG with nervous disbelief. The wave of public support for this issue is unprecedented. It’s not often that Alan Jones and the Farmers Federation share the same side of the fence as left-wing militant hippies. This speaks to the underlying ethos of the anti-coal-seam gas Lock The Gate movement. This is not a radical group. This is mainstream Australia. Not even hippy-haters want their water sources made toxic for generations to come.
According to the Sunshine Coast Daily, it was the Queensland Folk Federation on behalf of The Dreaming, a celebration of indigenous performance, art and culture, who accepted $225,000 necessary for the Dreaming event to continue. Without the funding this important Australian cultural event won’t happen. Problem is, the board have accepted the bucks from Santos, and I’m not talking about our local purveyors of nori rolls and ear candles; I’m talking about the mining giant, Santos. And, incidentally, considering that in August this year they posted a net profit on their website of $504 million, for a half year, indicating a cool profit of potentially around a billion for this financial year, their Dreaming festival donation is like Dick Smith giving $1.
It is no doubt that those in the know at Woodford have watched the growing public outcry around CSG with nervous disbelief. The wave of public support for this issue is unprecedented. It’s not often that Alan Jones and the Farmers Federation share the same side of the fence as left-wing militant hippies. This speaks to the underlying ethos of the anti-coal-seam gas Lock The Gate movement. This is not a radical group. This is mainstream Australia. Not even hippy-haters want their water sources made toxic for generations to come.
Tweed Shire Echo
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