Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, an old activist singer, is facing a heartfelt appeal from a new young activist singer, 25-year-old Missy Higgins.Higgins has written a personal letter to Garrett, asking him to stop the proposed industrialisation of the Kimberley wilderness.
Higgins, who has a holiday house in Broome and wrote her album On a Clear Night there, said yesterday from the United States, where she's touring: "When I found out that there were plans to build a major LNG gas processing precinct at James Price Point, just north of Broome, I really could not believe it.
"How anyone can think it's OK to erect a gigantic dirty gas plant on that exquisite coastline is unfathomable.
"It's one of the last completely untouched, pristine coastal areas left on the planet.
"The contrast of industrial smoke against the piercing blue of that sky is one of the wrongest things I can imagine. What a horrifically vivid image of Man versus Nature."
Garrett knows Broome and the Kimberley well, having performed there with his band Midnight Oil in the late '80s and early '90s. He's trekked the Kimberley, indeed camped at the contentious site, James Price Point, which he describes as "a very beautiful place".
Higgins said people in Broome felt frustration, anger and complete helplessness about the LNG precinct, which is being pushed through by pro-development Premier Colin Barnett and backed by federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson.
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