Environment groups launch advertising campaign to keep parties honest

Media Release
The Wilderness Society (SA) Inc.
23 November 2011

The Wilderness Society, the Environment Centre NT and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have launched an advertising campaign today to increase the pressure on our political leaders to protect the Territory’s unique natural environment.

The campaign kicks off with an advertisement in today’s NT News, and will be followed up with advertisements, billboards, letter boxing and other publicity targeting all political parties in the lead up to the August 25 2012 NT election.

The first advertisement, ‘C’mon Hendo, Keep Labor’s Promises’ calls on Chief Minister Paul Henderson to honour Labor’s election and policy commitments to:

• introduce a Native Vegetation Management Act to control large scale land clearing,
• introduce a Living Rivers Act to protect rivers from dams and large scale irrigation,
• create a network marine parks to protect sealife from sea bed mining and unsustainable commercial fishing practices.

“Since their election in 2001, NT Labor has promised to introduce land clearing laws, river protection laws and create marine parks. With just nine months until the next Territory election, the Henderson government scores zero out of three on protecting the environment,” said The Wilderness Society’s Northern Australia Campaigner Gavan McFadzean.

“It’s time they delivered on their promises.”

“Labor has been promising for over a decade to safeguard Territory waters in a world-class network of marine parks” said Jess Abrahams, Northern Marine Campaigner with the Australian Marine Conservation Society. “With destructive seabed mining now threatening critical feeding and breeding grounds around the coast, now more than ever we need marine sanctuaries to safeguard our tropical sealife, including our turtles, dolphins and dugongs.”

Director of the Environment Centre NT Stuart Blanch said, “It’s not good enough to promise to protect the environment during an election campaign and then not deliver once you’re elected. How can we trust Labor’s policy commitments in the lead up to next year’s election if they haven’t delivered on their promises so far?”

“The advertising campaign is designed to raise the profile amongst the community of these three key environmental issues, urge NT Labor to deliver on their existing election and policy commitments and the CLP to lift their environmental policy credentials between now and next year’s poll.”

Further comment: Gavan McFadzean m: 0414 754 023 Stuart Blanch m: 0448 887 303