HELP SAVE THE KIMBERLEY - FEB 10, 2010

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Rarely does there come a time in one’s life where we have an opportunity to do something magnificent. To be able to say to our grandchildren and they to theirs, that it was we who helped save one of the most precious places on the planet – The Kimberley coast of Australia.

To know that this beautiful, awe inspiring, sacred land which holds species of plants and animals, many unknown, a land of rich and diverse Indigenous culture will remain untouched for centuries to come, can make us proud we saved it.

There is no other place like the Kimberley in the world. It is pristine and while tourism is its centerpiece in todays’ world, visitors have a chance to enter the Dreamtime, before European mans heavy footprint marched into the west.

To mine, industrialise and crack open the heart of this region is greed beyond description. The dollars will never buy back what we have lost and sold to others. Indigenous Australians will lose heritage, country and identity for short term flim flam.

We are losing our country too fast. Selling out and losing what should be our birthright and our children’s future, from wherever we come. We look at what is happening in China, India, Tibet, Burma, Japan, where industry is smothering landscape. Where there is little tranquility and materialism and money rule. Do we want our politicians, outsiders, offshore owners to come in and rip into our resources to benefit a few and despoil our future enjoyment and untold benefits from leaving it as it is?

If there is just one place, where people can unite in a common ideal, to save The Kimberley and know that whatever happens anywhere else, we have one great chunk of the most profoundly special place in the world, safe and unspoiled to simply be in and be moved and inspired, then saying NO to development in the Kimberley is worth it.

Sometimes we have to say no to powerful forces, political corruption, manipulation by outsiders, to short term monetary gain, in the face of what we know is the greater good.

It’s not always easy to make a stand against these forces, to ignore the brandishment of dollars and hollow promises.

But sometimes, it feels good to say No. And know you are right.

Di Morrissey has set three novels in the Kimberley and is a member of Environs Kimberley and Save the Kimberley Foundation and a frequent visitor to the Kimberley.

For more information, go to www.savethekimberley.com and request our book or book plus print special offer.

What you can do –

Write to your federal member.

If you live in WA write to your State member.

Wherever you live, in or out of Australia, write to the Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd, MP. Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600

Write to the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Peter Garrett AM, MP. Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600

Write to The Premier of Western Australia, the Hon. Colin Barnett MLA, Parliament House, Perth WA 6000.

Write to the Leader of the (State) Opposition the Hon. Eric Ripper, MLA. Parliament House, Perth WA 6000