Ben Elton rallies against mining companies

What’s Ben Elton been up to since Live from Planet Earth ended its run on Channel Nine?

….rallying to stop a proposal to mine coal in the Margaret River region of Western Australia.

He was joined by former Consuming Passions chef Ian Parmenter at a NO COAL!ition fundraiser at Xanadu Winery, along with other local producers, artists, wineries and businesses.

Elton, who has a house at nearby Cowaramup, told protestors that mining companies “would put next year’s profit margin ahead of the decades to come and our children’s future.”

With his trademark political bite he vowed civil disobedience if the Environment Protection Authority and Environment Minister Bill Marmion approved an underground coal mine at Osmington.

“It is a fight, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s one that we simply have to win and I would suggest that if this insane debate goes any further we must make it clear that there will be passive resistance within the law, there will be civil disobedience.”

An ABC Landline film crew had also interviewed Parmenter on the issue.

But in an ironic choice of words that might well have mirrored his own TV show Elton also told anti-mining protestors:

“….there is no Planet B and we must stop this madness.”

Source / photo: Margaret River Mail