Antinuclear

Townsville City Council’s talks with police about “emerging community tensions” in the debate around the Carmichael mine project prompted its move to halt the screening at one of its public venues a week out, according to its chief executive Adele Young.

It follows the arrest of a man in Townsville on Monday night for allegedly assaulting anti-Adani protesters, reported threats to activist Ben Pennings, and a controversy that engulfed federal MP George Christensen on Sunday over his apparent online taunt to environmentalists while posing with a gun.

However, the North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC) insists the council did not mention safety concerns when it first revealed its decision to scrap the booking agreement last Thursday.

The environmental group had already paid to hold a local premiere of the Nell Schofield film, A Mighty Force, at Townsville’s Old Magistrates Court on February 22, along with simultaneous screenings in other cities.

President of the NQCC, Wendy Tubman, said a council officer told the group in a phone call that her supervisor had instructed her to cancel the booking as council had deemed the film “political”.

Ms Tubman told the ABC it was an “outrageous” situation and the NQCC had then written to the mayor, Jenny Hill, to say it had legal advice that the booking agreement was “valid and binding”…….

Council move ‘a real worry’

State Greens MP Michael Berkman said that “whichever way you interpret the Townsville City Council’s actions here, it seems pretty rotten”.

“If they can’t be confident that community members are able to safely attend a film screening at the council venue, that’s a real worry,” he told the ABC.”What’s perhaps more concerning is if council is deliberately stifling community engagement and censoring any backlash around Adani, especially when they’ve come under fire for their dodgy $18 million funding of Adani’s airstrip.”………..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-21/council-denies-politics-behind-axing-of-stop-adani-documentary/9468218