The Inspector of the South West Police District Office of WA, Geoff Stewart, states (in the media) that they (the police) don’t consider banner-making an unlawful activity, and they would hate for people to become paranoid and think it illegal.
So why was there a police paddy wagon at the Yabberup Hall at 1pm on Australia Day - taking participants licence-plate-numbers, while attending a fun-family community banner-making workshop, to create public awareness on the imminent logging of quokka habitat in Arcadia forest (between Bunbury-Collie), and why didn’t the police converse with us?
Inspector Stewart also claimed that the police were out and about in the community as part of the Australia Day patrols; yet the Yabberup Hall is approx 18ks east of Donnybrook and isolated.
Over the last 30-yrs, the Preston Environment Group have gone through all the bureaucratic hurdles - exposing hundreds of breaches to the government’s own Forest Management Plan’s; only to be ignored or responded to with arrogance and lies. Meanwhile the logging industry receive extraordinary sums of taxpayer’s money, allowing them to continue their unchecked destruction and empire building throughout the bureaucratic system, unaccounted for and unchecked.
One example being: a number of the new appointees to the Conservation Commission have no environmental credentials, are pro-logging, and have never demonstrated any ethics or morals towards the preservation of the natural environment within their public life.
Corruption goes much deeper: ministers and their bureaucratic agencies, jobs for the boys, intimidation of scientists, and so called independent consultants - who are not only employed by government in helping to formulate policies, but who also have multi-national extractive industries as their clients; the motto to their clients: WE GET WHAT YOU WANT.
The media have reported the ongoing saga of logging versus the environment for decades - exposing the logging industries crimes on what has now resulted in environmental collapse. Yet, this has had little effect, other than their need to counteract bad publicity, while they continue to believe they are untouchable.
I want to know Inspector Stewart: who directed you to send the police in a paddy wagon at 1pm on Australia Day to a community event to record participants licence plate numbers, and for what reason? And who do the community turn to when it comes to seeking justice, for the corruption of those who perpetrate unlawful breaches and destruction on our irreplaceable environment? These crimes are already having dire consequences for our lives and livelihoods, and will do so for future generations.
It is a sad day to see, that the all mighty logging industry and multi-national corporations have the power to corrupt governments, and their agencies - causing justice and democracy to fail. So if you think that we live in a democracy, well then you had better think again, or do we just sit back and allow these people to take away our civil-rights and control our destiny?
