An important callout from our friends at Oil Free Wellington. Groups from around the country will be represented at this event – it’s a great chance to show the oil industry and the Government the depth of opposition to their drilling and fossil fuel exploitation plans.

At the bottom of this post, there’s news of a Greens/Oil Free Otautahi meeting in Christchurch on the issue.

Stop the Petroleum Summit – call to action: Wednesday 18 September

Next month on the 18th and 19th September the Petroleum Summit is set to take place in Wellington.

Our oceans are being sold off, seismic surveying is set to take place in the Pegasus Basin and exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin and off Taranaki within months, onshore oil and gas production including fracking is expanding and our right to protest and privacy is being removed.

This Petroleum summit comes at a time when our climate, livelihoods and environment are being threatened like never before.

With representatives from the oil and gas industry and Government coming together for two days with the purpose of the expansion of this destructive and unsustainable industry, now is the time to act. Now is the time for us rise up and voice a collective NO to fossil fuel extraction agenda, and YES to a sustainable and equitable future.

Therefore, we are calling for action and solidarity from our allies around Aotearoa to join us in Wellington to stop this summit from it’s business as usual.

With the industry behind this summit threatening our future, and with summit sponsors such as war-mongering corporate giant Halliburton, we hope that groups and allies in peace and social justice movements will also join in this action.

We will meet on Wednesday 18th at 7.15am sharp outside the Railway Station (next to the Gandhi statue) and march to the Petroleum summit at Westpac Stadium. We will voice our opposition powerfully, creatively,and peacefully. We know it’s early, but we’ll have coffee on hand. Please be on time so we can march together.

Bring banners, noisemakers, whistles, pots, pans, costumes, musical instruments, friends, whanau and anything else to help make this event lively and festive.

If you are travelling from out of Wellington and need a place to stay, email the address below and we can help out. We also hope to have a chance to share some kai, stories, plans and korero on the evening of the 18th. Venue TBC

The oil and gas industry think they own Aotearoa and can carry out their national conference of polluters without a hitch. Lets show them they’re wrong.

For info or questions please email oilfreewellington@gmail.com

With aroha and solidarity
The Oil Free Wellington Crew

Christchurch Public Meeting, Friday 20 September: Green Party and Oil Free Otautahi

A callout from Gareth Hughes MP:

The National Government is rolling out the red carpet to oil companies who can now put in bids for the right to do risky exploratory deep sea drilling off New Zealand’s coastline.

We saw the economic and environmental damage that can be done with the Rena disaster and that’s small in comparison to the potential damage of a deep sea oil spill. We need to take this chance while the door is open to show the Government that New Zealanders don’t want to put our precious coasts at risk of catastrophic oil spills. We need to lay out a better option.

To learn more about the drilling and what you can do to help stop it, please join me and special guest speaker Siana Fitzjohn (Oil Free Otautahi) for a public meeting in Christchurch.

When: 7pm, Friday 20th September
Where: Knox Church, 28 Bealey Ave, Christchurch (Click for map)

If you can make it to the meeting, please RSVP.

If you can’t make it but want to be kept up to date about the issue, click here to join the Kiwi Bid.

Thanks, hope to see you there!