Monday 27 August
7pm in S.G.03. University of Waikato
Drew Hutton has been a social justice and environmental campaigner for over 40 years. Since April 2010 he has been campaigning against the massive expansion of the coal and coal seam gas industries in his state, working closely with farmers, helping them organise to protect their land and water.
Drew started the Lock the Gate campaign in Queensland in August 2010 and was instrumental in setting up the Lock the Gate Alliance, a national umbrella organisation of over 150 community groups around Australia, becoming its president in March 2011. The core strategy of the Alliance is the refusal to negotiate access by landowners to mining companies.
Drew is in New Zealand to share his experience of working with Australian farmers threatened by coal mining, drilling and fracking for Coal Seam Gas (CSG). CSG is a new industry in New Zealand which most people know little about. Drew will share his understanding of coal seam gas technology and operations and its effects on farmers, nearby communities, land and water.
Drew has written extensively on environmental history, politics and ethics and co-wrote, with his wife Libby Connors, A History of the Australian Environment Movement, published by Cambridge University Press in 1999."
