Australian schoolchildren are voicing their opposition to coal seam gas by dressing up in costumes inspired by “accidental activist” Dayne Pratzky from the powerful anti-CSG documentary Frackman.
Siblings Aiden, Elise, Lucas and Jake Coombes are among a new batch of campaigners whose shoe size exceeds their age, but clad in white disposable jumpsuits, they look like mini Walter Whites. The kids donned the Frackman-style contamination suits on Wednesday for a protest marking 100 weeks of community resistance to AGL’s CSG operations in their hometown of Gloucester, New South Wales.
In Frackman style, they inscribed messages on their costumes such as “No fracking way”, “Frack off”, “Fracking hell” and “Fracking my future.” The back of their suits read: “Future vet”, “Future soldier” and “Future engineer”.
Other children getting in on the anti-fracking action include Albany-based Ben, 10, who wrote and performed a speech about fracking in his school playground, and eight-year-old Sam, who has been helping his grandmother promote a screening of the film on Sydney’s north shore by handing out flyers.
Director Richard Todd’s documentary chronicles the never-say-never efforts of Dayne Pratzky, a pig shooter-cum-environmentalist who launched a long-running war against energy companies after a CSG mine was built next to his former property in rural Queensland.
Pratzky’s fire-with-fire approach saw him block roads with trucks, sneak into gas company property at night and lead various protests around the country. As a result he has had his house broken into, his dogs poisoned and his email accounts hacked, he told Guardian Australia in March.
The “frack kids” have taken a rather more restrained approach, one producing a handwritten essay and a hand-drawn picture of Frackman in full chemical protective garb.
The film has partnered up with protest organisations Get Up! and Lock the Gate, generating a windfall of support since its premiere at the Byron Bay film festival in March. Producers used an innovative distribution model to get it in front of audiences, recruiting a professional pollster to identify seats where fracking was a key issue in the lead-up to the NSW election. They then used a process known as “four-walling”, renting cinema space to show to film.
Packed-out theatres led to a steady stream of media attention and supporters including high-profile champions such as Alan Jones and former Greens leader Bob Brown.
Armed with needles and balls of yarn, activist group Knitting Nannas have regularly attended screenings and come out in force at various anti-CSG rallies. This week the kids proved championing Frackman – and crusading against coal seam exploration – is an all-ages affair.
