An update from Protect Larrakia Country

Hi friends and family! 🌸

It's been a while since we sent any updates here but I thought it was good to let you know what we've been up to.

We launched a report! 🐊

On Tuesday 1 September, we gathered at Darwin Community Arts to launch Fund Our Futures, Not Middle Arm, a new report built from the perspectives of more than 100 Larrakia people on what they would spend $1.9b on instead of expanding the Middle Arm gas hub. A key recommendation is to establish a Larrakia-owned eco-sanctuary at Lee Point where language, culture and biodiversity can flourish.

We raised $20k for a new TV ad to stop the Middle Arm gas hub! 📺 

Thanks to the incredible generosity of over 500 people who chipped in, we raised $20,000 to get our new ad Give Middle Arm the Middle Finger played on TV. This cheeky, very NT ad features real people with real concerns about how the Federal government plans to hand over $1.9 billion to expand the polluting Middle Arm gas hub. We'll now be able to reach tens of thousands of people during fishing and hunting programs, AFL, golf, and cricket. Thank you for making this happen! And thank you to CounterFrame for generously filming the ad for free.

We're considering a legal case for Lee Point  🐦

We are exploring our options for an international Indigenous Rights complaint to the United Nations as both Middle Arm and Lee Point are habitat to migratory shorebirds who are at risk if the gas hub expansion and military housing projects go ahead. These shorebirds travel all the way from Alaska and Siberia with many stops across different Indigenous lands along the way and the claim would be in collaboration with representatives from some of those Indigenous nations. We have managed to secure a meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights in November.  

We have a new petition to stop the Beetaloo Energy data centre near Darwin 

Independent MLA Justine Davis has agreed to table this petition in NT Parliament in mid-October so we're trying to get as many signatures as possible before then! If this data centre goes ahead, it will consume more than six times the current peak electricity demand of Darwin and Katherine, and drain life and Spirit from my Grandmother's Country and the sacred women's site I was named after.

Thank you for standing with Larrakia people and Larrakia Country. 🐠

Laniyuk and the Protect Larrakia Country crew

P.S. If you'd like to stay updated, you can join our dedicated mailing list here.