‘Piss off’: Chief Minister furious with anti-fracking campaigners for ‘spreading fear’ during coronavirus crisis

THE Chief Minister has launched a furious attack on anti-fracking campaigners for ‘spreading lies’ about FIFO workers and clogging government phone lines in the middle of the coronavirus crisis

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has told anti-fracking campaigners to “piss off” and stop clogging government phone lines so the Government can focus on helping people during the coronavirus pandemic. Picture Che Chorley

THE Chief Minister has launched a furious attack on anti-fracking campaigners for “spreading lies” about FIFO workers and clogging up government phone lines in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

East-coast activist group GetUp! started a campaign this week claiming companies like Origin Energy were flouting quarantine measures in the NT and putting the lives of remote community residents at risk.

MORE TOP STORIES

NT police fury as mass gathering flouts COVID-19 safety rules

Latest NT coronavirus couple flew in from Sydney after trip to New York

NT border rules take effect: All your questions answered

‘We’re moving on’: Territory Alliance gives up Opposition claim

The campaign claimed fracking has been deemed “essential” in the Territory but the NT Government said this is not true.

Instead, a spokesman from Origin said they had temporarily paused fracking activities at Beetaloo Basin due to the pandemic and scaled back to only having 45 employees on site.

But a spokesman from GetUp! said its concerns about FIFO workers were legitimate.

“Northern Lands Council and Central Lands Council have stated that they are being approached by remote communities concerned about FIFO workers on their community,” he said.

“They’ve seen these workers coming in and out of their shops.”

The Chief Minister said it made him “sick” that GetUp! was trying to “exploit people’s fear in the middle of a national crisis” for political purposes.

“To deliberately lie and scare remote communities like this is despicable and unforgivable,” he said.

“I’ve got people working round the clock to help people who have been left on the scrapheap.

“I don’t need them distracted by these bullshit scare campaigns run by a bunch of Twitter trolls.

“Our phone lines are running off the hook with people worried about their business or their job.

“We’ve got people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

“And because of bloody GetUp, our phone lines are clogged up with something that is based on a lie.

“They sit in their fancy office in Sydney and come up with this crap, and they have no idea about the damage they are doing to people over here.

“My message is simple: Piss off. Stop diverting our resources away from saving lives to stopping your lies.”

A GetUp spokesman responded and said: “GetUp has thousands of members in the Northern Territory, and every single person who phoned in lives in the NT and was a constituent. “Michael Gunner can choose to listen to the concerns of NT residents or ignore them, but we’ll continue to elevate them.”

“Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that mining is an essential service during the pandemic.

“However State and Territory leaders have the power to declare that mining operations are non-essential. So we’ve argued they should, and we would welcome the news.”