This Wednesday, concerned East Gippsland residents will be travelling to Melbourne with family, friends and other like-minded Victorians for a peaceful protest on the steps of Parliament House to show their disapproval of the proposed mineral sands mine at Glenaladale.
With the Lindenow Valley vegetable growing area only a short distance from the proposed mineral site, organisers of the protest say the time has come to accelerate the level of awareness about this mine.
“We want the rest of Victoria and Australia to know that the area where their veggies are grown is under threat from this mine,” Sharon Clerke, of Mine-Free Glenaladale, said.
“It is time to raise the profile in Melbourne about these concerns so we are holding a demonstration on the steps of Parliament commencing at 11am on June 19.
“We will be handing out vegetables grown in the Lindenow Valley to bring people’s attention to the fact that if this mine proceeds it is highly likely their veggies will be contaminated from radioactive and highly toxic substances, as well as putting at risk up to 1500 jobs.
“If the more than 4GL of water (now estimated to be 3GL) that will be needed by the mine for processing and dust suppression was redirected to growing vegetables, five times more jobs would be created than the 200 jobs the mine proposes to create.”
A petition with more than 4600 signatures against the mine and its proponent, Kalbar Resources, will be lodged by The Greens in Parliament earlier that morning.
“This large number of signatures shows there is no social licence for this mine to proceed,” Debbie Carruthers, one of the organisers of the event, said.
“This is in addition to a further 3000 online signatures on Change.org petitions. Also in addition, 82 per cent of the directly impacted land-holders said, in response to a survey question, that they want their land mineral sands mining free.
“A new part of the campaign has recently been launched called #StopKalbar to raise further awareness about the risks with this mine.
“This area is a major food bowl for Victoria so people need to let Hon Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning, who will make the decision about whether the mine proceeds, know their concerns and ask him to stop this mine,” Ms Carruthers said.
The protest is planned to conclude by 12.30pm.
