By ERWIN CHLANDA The battle against fracking is just beginning,...

By ERWIN CHLANDA

The battle against fracking is just beginning, says Jimmy Cocking, of the Arid Lands Environment Centre, after a rally attended by about 300 people in Todd Mall at noon today.

“Non violent resistance” is likely to be applied by people in the “direct line of fire” – but always as the initiative of the locals on whose land fracking is taking place.

Mr Cocking says this is likely to be first in the Beetaloo Basin at Elliott, north of Tennant Creek, where mining companies had already obtained statutory environmental approvals before the moratorium lifted by the NT Government yesterday was imposed.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s prediction that fracking can start in the next dry season is risky, says Mr Cocking: “It is always bad to overestimate capability and underestimate the task.”

He says a national support is already ramping up across the nation, likely to be as vocal as the Jabiluka anti uranium campaign in the late 90s.

His advice to the locals at Elliott is to “keep eyes and ears open” and in the “absence of the government being an effective watchdog, collect water samples, take the photos.

“It’s the people versus power, money and influence. We need to give them political support, stand up to that power.”

http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/04/18/new-energy-for-anti-fracking-campaign/