Renowned Australian musician John Butler is the latest high profile name to publicly oppose fracking in the Northern Territory, with plans to play a protest gig via Facebook Live this Monday night (August 17).
Mr Butler’s appearance will be broadcast on a large screen at Nightcliff Beach at 7pm as well as via the Don’t Frack the Territory Facebook page.
Mr Butler said, “With the amount of overwhelming evidence that has been collected about the onshore gas industry, in particular the hydraulic fracturing of shale, tight, and coal seam gas, I find it hard to understand how any modern state or federal leader could justify lifting a ban on this volatile industry to operate, let alone encouraging them to do so.
“The overwhelming evidence that has come in from southern inland Queensland and abroad in countries such as the United States, present horrifying realities that the onshore gas industry has left with those communities, their local water supply and environment.”
Mr Butler’s anti-fracking declaration comes after fellow Australian music royalty Neil Murray, of Warumpi Band fame, announced he too was opposed to the industry laying waste to the Territory.
Protect Country Alliance spokesperson Graeme Sawyer said musicians were speaking up where many politicians refused.
“Unlike many of our Territory and Commonwealth politicians, these Australian musicians have not been captured by vested interests connected to the fracking industry,” he said.
“Like the majority of Territorians who oppose fracking, they see the industry for what it is - a dirty, dangerous, and polluting sector that if unleashed across the NT will catapult us into a world where global warming wreaks havoc.
“It is not too late for parties that support fracking in the NT to renounce that support as we head into the final weeks of the Territory election campaign. Not only does it make political sense, given that 86 percent of Territorians oppose fracking, but it also makes moral and common sense, given the risks it poses to our unique Territorian way of life, our communities, and our environment.”
ENDS