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Campaign enjoys huge local support |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 18 July 2005 |
Platypus People leader Jon Woodlands last week said his cause was
maintaining huge support from across the community. ?I think most
people support this occupation in one form or another,?? he said before
Tuesday?s eviction.
Mr Woodlands said while some people were critical of the protesters he felt most people admired their stand. ?The other night I went in to the front bar of the pub and one guy said ?I hope you don?t mind mate but I?m going to make up some I will shop there stickers?,? he laughed.
?And that was the only kind of negativity I had. I had a couple of farmers come up to me and say ?good on you Jon you?ve got some guts for doing what you?re doing?. Meanwhile, there are a lot of die-hard locals camping with us and most people can acknowledge that there is something that they think is wrong with developing this site.?
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| Jon
Woodlands ... ?in terms of the scale of (Woolworth?s) business - they
turn over 25 billion dollars a year - and whether they build this
supermarket here or not is not going to make any difference to them
whatsoever. But it means a lot to Maleny?. |
Mr Woodlands said he could understand people?s apprehension regarding the occupation. ?It was quite a radical action to set up camp on the land but you know construction was imminent and we just thought that we had to do something to try and get Woolworths back to the negotiating table and get them to realise the level of community sentiment.?
Mr Woodlands said his side had won the first contest which came when an eviction notice came into effect last Thursday at noon. ?12 o?clock came and went and instead of us marching out, 200 more people marched on. It?s been challenging in different ways. We?ve had cold, wet weather and it?s been quite tense with the situation with police - not knowing if they could come in, in the night and round us up.
But what has kept us going is the amount of support there?s been from many people, and quite a lot of conservative people, and people from all walks of life.?
Mr Woodlands was called a ?bloody squatter? last week and it was acknowledged that he and others were acting illegally.
?Everyone?s entitled to their opinion. I don?t have a problem with that. But I don?t believe some people have an idea of the depth of community support there is for what we?re trying to do here. And I don?t think they realize our commitment. We?ve had a lot of different people come in to the camp at the point of tears, overwhelmed with gratitude and offering any support that they can possibly give. We?ve literally had tonnes and tonnes of firewood come in from local farmers. We?ve got medical supplies, enough hot meals to feed an army, massages, all kinds of offers of support. People being really, really positive. We get a lot of visitors on weekends. They?re also very curious about what?s happening and can?t understand why Woolworths wants to keep going on like this. And I think they really feel for us here.??
Mr Woodlands said the point of the occupation had been to get Woolworths and developers back to the negotiating table. ?They need to come and talk to us and try and get a handle on these issues that the community has been talking about for at least the last two years and particularly related to this site.
?I guess what we?re saying to Woolworths is, in terms of the scale of their business - they turn over 25 billion dollars a year - and whether they build this supermarket here or not is not going to make any difference to them whatsoever. But it means a lot to Maleny. I mean this supermarket will be here on the banks of the Obi for a hundred years. And the mere fact that they had info in front of them proving that the platypus was here - it?s disgraceful.?
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 July 2005 )
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Range News 2005 - ON 
