A quiet meeting in Brisbane a couple of weekends ago could herald an outspoken new era in rural lobbying, if the latest words from the Green Shirts movement are any indication.
Founder, Martin Bella, a Mackay Regional councillor and cane grower, said the group’s first official planning meeting brought graziers, farmers, business owners, scientists and representative groups from across rural Australia together, all with a growing frustration that their communities were being repeatedly used as a political punching bag by ill-informed politicians attempting to pander to inner city green voters.
By the end of the meeting, Mr Bella said they had pledged to ‘reclaim green’ by taking to the city streets and the halls of parliament to prove the most trustworthy environmentalists in Australia were those who depend on a sustainable environment for their livelihood.
“Watch this space – you will be hearing a lot more from the Green Shirts in the coming weeks and months,” he said. “From paddock to plate – we won’t be taking a backward step in protecting the interests of our people.”
The Green Shirts movement began making headlines earlier in the year when its green workshirt wearers became the most vocal critics of the Palaszczuk government’s radical overhaul of vegetation management laws.
Read more: Green Shirts uncover ALP’s raw spot
Mr Bella said alongside that, sheep live export issues had begun threatening livelihoods in Western Australia, and fears were circulating that a federal Labor government would bring back the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, all coalescing into an understanding that mum and dad businesses would be hurt the most unless something was done.
The alliance of agriculture, fisheries and transport industries, so far representing two states, believed the days of having a seat at the political table were gone – in Mr Bella’s words, that tactic has seen a continual decline in rural political influence.
“Politics got us into this situation, but stroking forearms and being nice in the hope of gaining an advantage isn’t working,” he said. “We need to provide real information on what we do rather than just assume people know.”
It will mean protesting, agitating and driving a more aggressive agenda to combat “consistently false and misleading” environmentalist claims.
Rather than replacing existing peak body groups or competing with them, the Green Shirts say they want to serve as an umbrella organisation to connect existing landholder groups and peak industry bodies across the Australian primary industries sector.
It wants to use the momentum of the movement to expand its campaign focus and directly confront environmental and economic claims they say are strangling the entire food industry supply chain.
”We’ve concentrated on our differences in the past – now we want to focus on what we agree on,” Mr Bella said. “We’re not pro any particular group; we’re just pro the interests of regional Australia.”
He added that existing approaches hadn’t always been successful and that it was important to connect like-minded groups and combat misinformation with strong scientific data and policy ideas.
“The overwhelming support from the Australian public towards our people fighting the drought has proven that our contribution to the national economy is valued and I believe taking a more aggressive approach and playing the greenies at their own protest game is our only real choice going forward.”
Mr Bella said at this stage administrators were still sifting through their options and strategies, but from feedback already received, he expected their plans to be well received.