United to protect our water
101 enthusiastic
Knitting Nannas from around NSW ( including Nanna Purl Stockingstitch from
Cairns) converged on Sydney on International Women’s Day to protest outside
Parliament House about the state of our rivers and the lack of effective
government action to restore their health. The theme of the protest was “No
Water no Life”.
The Nannas
came from Loops in the Northern Rivers, Grafton, Coonabarabran, Dubbo, Midcoast,
Central Coast, Gloucester, New England-North West, Hunter Valley, Illawarra,
and Sydney.
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| Organising the Nannas for the Martin Place photo |
They
assembled in Martin Place. After collecting their specially designed T-shirts,
they donned them and draped their dramatic red, black and yellow sashes across
their bodies suffragette style. Then it was time for the photo shoot with the
big banner held above the assorted Loop banners.
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| Some of the Nannas assembled in Martin Place |
Fortunately
it was only a short walk to Parliament House but it took the milling Nannas a
while to shuffle into position along the tall fence outside our state
politicians’ lair. Actually parking the many derrières (some of them reasonably
broad) on the concrete fence base led to a bit of a squash. Then the Nannas, in
the spirit of the suffragettes, used their sashes to tie themselves to the
metal spikes that form the fence.
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| Northern River Nannas outside Parliament House |
- Climate action immediately
- Transition to 100% renewables
- Every person to have access to potable water 24/7
- NSW gas ban
- Protect and respect Aboriginal sacred sites
- Create a youth advisory panel
- Revoke anti-protest laws
And the list concluded with: Don’t forget to keep your promises! (When
you think about it, that’s a pretty tall order given the past efforts of many
pollies in keeping promises!)
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| Hunter Nanna ready for action |
It was a great day.
As usual there were many energetic Nannas involved in the organisation
of the protest and in the making of those wonderful sashes (sure to become
collectors’ items!), printing of the Tshirts and making of the very big banner
(United to Protect Our Water).
