Creating Gasfield Free communities: All over the Northern Rivers, communities are taking charge of their destiny via this grass-roots process. They conduct a thorough survey of people in their locality, asking “Do you want your roads and lands Gasfield Free?” After reaching majority decision, they declare themselves Gasfield Free. Citizens then put up Gasfield Free Road Signs and present Declarations to their Mayor. It is important to note that these Declarations are not ‘petitions’. It’s a community’s Declaration of intent to defend themselves from an invasive, reckless industry.
The strategy was piloted in The Channon, then spread fast. At last count, 119 Northern Rivers communities have Declared themselves Gasfield Free, with an average YES response of 95% (>27,000 respondents). When we compare these community surveys to results at rural booths in the Lismore City Council referendum question (87% don’t want CSG), we see that the grass-roots surveys are an accurate representation of community opinion.
Northern Rivers is a region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between 590 kilometres and 820 kilometres north of the state capital, Sydney..
CSG stands for Coal Seam Gas.
To find out how to make your community CSG Free, go to http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org.