Farmer and activist Dayne Pratzky has called on Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to see Frackman, the controversial documentary about coal seam gas mining in which he appears.
This challenge follows Pratzky’s media statements that Queensland’s favourite son, Darren Lockyer, might one day regret putting his name to the practice of fracking for coal seam gas in Queensland.
Pratzky was reported in the Courier Mail as saying Roma-â€born Lockyer, a paid ambassador for Origin Energy’s $23 billion Australia Pacific gas project, would be “embarrassed and ashamed” once the devastating impacts of CSG extraction were felt.
The film is a David versus Goliath story about a knockabout Aussie bloke, Dayne Pratzky, referred by the media as an “accidental activist”, who takes up a fight with the big boys and refuses to back down.
“I think the people of Queensland would like Annastacia to take her Cabinet Ministers to see the film for some home truths about the effects of coal seam gas on Queensland,” said Pratzky. “I would like to invite her to attend a screening and join me at a Q&A.
“Many people whose lives are affected every day by CSG, particularly those in the Tara-â€Chinchilla region, would like to know what the Premier’s real opinion is of the industry’s practices. There are also indirect consequences on the Great Barrier Reef from port and dredging activities associated with the export of Queensland Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to China.
“Frackman’s aerial photography shows the shocking extent of the gas-â€fields across the Queensland landscape and there are anecdotes from affected landowners in the film. This should be seen by government to make sure decisions politicians make in the future about new CSG leases are truly in the best interests of Queenslanders. Despite the fact that the deals for CSG were done back in Anna Bligh’s government, it’s not too late to save much of Queensland from further damaging CSG activity, particularly to our aquifers and farming land.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk should encourage all Queensland politicians to see Frackman. It will help them to make better decisions about the future as it shows the downside of coal seam gas mining on Queensland.".
Directed by Richard Todd, Frackman is now screening in Brisbane after travelling around Australia to packed cinemas. The grassâ€roots campaign for Frackman, a movie-â€length documentary about ordinary Australians caught up in a multinational gas rush, went viral on social media, with views of the trailer on Facebook alone reaching one million in the first ten days.
Since then Frackman has won best film at Byron Bay Film Festival, and best feature film (factual) at the Western Australian Screen Awards. Hundreds of individuals and community groups have requested to screen the film in their region using the cinema-on-demand platform Tugg that Frackman is partnering with.
In Queensland the Lock the Gate Alliance is conducting many of the Tugg screenings. The trailer has been viewed in more than 30 countries, including Antarctica. Thousands have joined in a lively commentary on the site.
Queensland producer of Frackman Trish Lake says the documentary is very timely, observing, “We are seeing a spirited debate in the comments between those affected by coal seam gas, and those who work in the gas industry. But overall there are a huge number of comments from people who had no idea just how widespread the effects are of Big Gas in Australia.
“It’s a debate that is much overdue. People want to know more and they want to have a say. They don’t want to leave it to the politicians and “Big Gas” to make unilateral decisions about how energy impacts Australians’ health and their environment.”
There is a series of screenings throughout July at the Palace Centro Cinema in Brisbane, with Q&A screenings on July 1, 15 and 22.
Further screenings continue to roll out in cinemas throughout regional and metropolitan Australia, where audiences can book and organise screenings at local cinemas by a push of a button through the Frackmanthemovie.com and Tugg.com.au websites.
The film has been supported by Good Pitch Australia, Screen Australia, Screen Queensland and ScreenWest.