Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Whose Review Is It Anyway?: NUTS’ WPIIA 2025
    •  “Like diaspora, pollen needs to bescattered to different places to survive and grow”: Dual Opening of ‘Germinate/Propagate/Bloom’, and ‘Last Call’ at 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art
    • Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow, Namesakes, and Nostalgia: An Interview
    • Into the Blue: Underwater Robots Unveil the Secrets of Norfolk Island’s Deep
    • Ancient Reef Cores Reveal Fragile Future for the Great Barrier Reef
    • Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and Rameau walk into the Oldest Sydney Church
    • The Raftsmen: An Interview with Dr. Chadden Hunter — Sydney Film Festival Exclusive
    • The Anarchy 1138-53: to play or to plunder?
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Wednesday, June 18
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»News»Environment

    ‘Flood the phones & emails’: Gas Free Hunter Alliance hold online action against Kurri Kurri gas plant

    “We don’t own the land – we’re here to look after it.”
    By Kristin Miao and Patrick McKenzieAugust 28, 2021 Environment 3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    On Friday afternoon, the Gas Free Hunter Alliance convened an online action against the proposed Kurri Kurri Gas Plant in the NSW Hunter region.

    Co-organised with School Strike 4 Climate and supported by Workers for Climate Action and the USyd Enviro Collective, the action called on attendees to contact key Government decision-makers to voice their opposition to the proposed gas-fired power plant.

    Initially announced in May, the project would see government-owned Snowy Hydro Limited spend $600m on building a 660 megawatt generator in Kurri Kurri, 38km west of Newcastle.

    The plant has faced consistent opposition from community groups and experts, who have criticised the plant’s environmental costs and lacklustre prospects for creating sustainable jobs in the region.

    While the government has claimed the project would create 600 jobs at the peak of construction, the environmental impact statement submitted to the NSW government suggested that there would be 250 jobs during construction, and only 10 during operation.

    “Even during construction, there is absolutely no guarantee that jobs will go to local people… this dinosaur could ruin Kurri’s chances of reinventing itself and getting itself back to full employment,” said Janet Murray, a Kurri Kurri resident and chemical engineer.

    Dayne Pratzky, an anti-fracking activist, spoke about feeling “overwhelmed” by the gas plant construction that occurred on his property in Western Queensland in 2009, and the “fallacy” of gas making a positive difference in the community.

    “They built a pipeline probably about 80 metres from my front door, they drilled hundreds of gas wells around me, they spent a billion dollars on a processing plant,” he said.

    The action comes amid an ongoing decentralised week of action dedicated to opposing the plant and supporting a just transition to renewable energy, jobs and radical sustainability. 

    Alexa Stuart, a 17-year old student and School Strike 4 Climate organiser, demonstrated by calling the office of NSW MP Rob Stokes, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. Stokes bears the responsibility of making the final decision to reject or approve the plant.

    Stuart and other attendees then reported that staff at the offices of Stokes, NSW Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean and Federal Energy and Emissions Reductions Minister Angus Taylor told them to make a formal written submission instead.

    SRC Co-Environment Officer Lauren Lancaster told Honi about the importance of continuing to engage others in radical climate action, even though lockdown is challenging movements’ ability to mobilise.

    “The Kurri Kurri week of action is one of the mechanisms that we’re using to make our voices heard, even if we can’t protest in conventional ways at the moment,” she said.

    The community’s opposition to further gas projects comes from a “responsibility, morally, to ensure that intergenerational equity is protected,” said Scott Franks, a Wonnarua man and native title claimant. “We don’t own the land – we’re here to look after it.”

    environment environmental activism fossil fuels Kurri Kurri

    Keep Reading

    Into the Blue: Underwater Robots Unveil the Secrets of Norfolk Island’s Deep

    Ancient Reef Cores Reveal Fragile Future for the Great Barrier Reef

    UTS bans indoor protests

    Macquarie University cuts at least 50 jobs

    1 in 3 men  have used intimate partner violence, according to AIFS research

    Chau Chak Wing Museum to partner with the 25th edition of the Biennale of Sydney

    Just In

    Whose Review Is It Anyway?: NUTS’ WPIIA 2025

    June 18, 2025

     “Like diaspora, pollen needs to bescattered to different places to survive and grow”: Dual Opening of ‘Germinate/Propagate/Bloom’, and ‘Last Call’ at 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art

    June 15, 2025

    Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow, Namesakes, and Nostalgia: An Interview

    June 11, 2025

    Into the Blue: Underwater Robots Unveil the Secrets of Norfolk Island’s Deep

    June 11, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.