HOT on the heels of last week’s Goomburra Valley Coal Mine meeting at Allora comes a visit to Stanthorpe of the man leading the campaign against coal seam gas mining.
Lock the Gate president and founder Drew Hutton will be in town next week.
Mr Hutton will be guest speaker at the Southern Downs Greens’ Information and Community Discussion Night on Thursday 26 March from 5.30pm at the Stanthorpe CWA.
The campaigner has been successful in bringing farmers and other rural residents together with environmentalists in a powerful coalition to stop irresponsible mining of coal and coal seam gas.
The public meeting aims to encourage the general public to actively participate in the political process by discussing the issues that affect them and their communities.
After holding similar sessions all over the electorate, the branch plans to develop policies based on these conversations which will then be presented and reviewed by each community in the next part of the process.
The evening will start with a brief talk by Elizabeth Ure, The Greens candidate in the recent state election.
She will give a brief overview of The Greens’ guiding principles and its major policies.
Mr Hutton will then facilitate an open community discussion on issues affecting the Granite Belt and what a party which truly represents rural and regional communities would look like.
“Rural and regional people know what their communities need but we’re locked out of discussions and policy making processes by the major parties,” said Ms Ure.
“The newly formed Southern Downs Greens branch wants to have those hard discussions with the community with the view to develop policies for the Queensland Greens to adopt.
“The power of The Greens is that it’s member-driven. All policies and decisions are made by branches and members.
“It’s that exact reason I started voting Greens after being a LNP supporter for many years.”
Everyone is welcome to attend and entry is free.
There is also a homemade buffet on offer for $20 per person.
The session will be informal and everyone is encouraged to participate.
Anyone who would like to submit a question before the evening can email elizabeth@greensonsoutherndowns.com.au.
