Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] (NMOC) FW: NO WOOLWORTHS WEDNESDAYS

Nathan Arrowsmith nathan at nathanarrowsmith.com
Fri May 14 18:51:46 MDT 2004


Hi Powderworkers. I don't usually forward stuff like this, but a lot of
people
are sympathetic to Maleny's cause and might like to pass this on. The power
of networking is astounding. If you are not interested, please just delete
and I'm sorry to have taken up your time.

Nathan Arrowsmith


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From: M & E Malter

Subject: NO WOOLWORTHS WEDNESDAYS

PLEASE! Read this and if you wish to support and help us at Maleny then do
this:

1. PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADRESS BOOK.

2. DON'T SHOP AT WOOLWORTHS ON ANY WEDNESDAY (and show them that people
power

works)

Dear Friend

At the ripe old age of 57 I am asking you to indulge/help in a game

Usually played by kids -- spreading a chain message by computer.

The message is to boycott Woolworths supermarkets on any (and preferably

every) Wednesday

Woolworths is the retail giant which is forcing itself on my home town

Of Maleny, one of Australia's most self-sustaining towns, in Queensland's
Sunshine Coast hinterland. By self-sustaining, I mean the locals buy local

products from a great variety of small local shops and the money stays in
the

community.

Bluntly, most of the town does not want this supermarket, or any other,
fearing that it would change the economic balance in the town and greatly
detract from its village character. This has been the pattern in other
states and through parts of the United States and Britain. Usually the
retail giant wins, pricing many local shops out of business. Any job gain
from the supermarket is outweighed by 1.7 times in job losses with local
businesses and suppliers. (Queensland Retail and Traders Association
survey).

To make it worse, the proposed site in Maleny is within a meter of an
unspoilt

creek which supplies the Sunshine Coast with water. It is also a valuable
wildlife habitat and home to endangered platypus.

On April 14, Woolworths and the site developers, Cornerstone, brought in
three 40-tonne excavators at dawn, accompanied by 70 Queensland police
officers, and smashed down most trees on the site, many native trees.
Protesters saved three trees by linking hands around them or climbing them.
They managed to force a halt to the destruction until State Government
officials confirmed that several of the trees had been destroyed illegally.
They were outside the proposed site on protected riverine land. Seven people
were arrested and the brutal nature of the destruction attracted
international headlines. Woolworths has now offered the land back to the
Caloundra City Council for $1.89 million - nearly three times what it paid.
The deadline for payment is June 18 and while the council is showing little
inclination to pay up, Woolworths and Cornerstone are showing every sign
that it will proceed, despite almost total opposition from the people of
Maleny. Many of these people are sending out this email - sorry if you get
it

twice! - which was suggested by a disgruntled former Woolworths executive.
He

says money is the only language big companies understand. That's the nuts
and bolts of it. If you are interested, please see the website

www.malenyvoice.com for further details and tell your friends!

If you are not, pray it doesn't happen to a place that is special to you.

Thanks for your time

Marek and Libby Malter