an australian call for help

The following was forwarded by MTC Cronin, an australian poet well worth checking out (googling her is really rewarding). I'm posting the email as it stands, in the hope that mischievoice may have at least some australian readers. This is, I think, the best thing I can do. It was originally sent by Barry Traill & Susie Duncan at The Wilderness Society. If you want to sign it, just copy & paste into an email. Here goes


Hi all

Margaret and Kim have prepared the following email which you can forward to all sympathetic friends and networks. There is a letter attachment addressed to Woolworths which needs to be signed off by individuals.

Cheers        Susie



Good afternoon Sir, Madam, Family, Teenagers, Kids, Uncles and Aunties,

We, the people of Maleny a small mountain township of approx 4200 in Queensland, are asking you to please read our plea to you. If you would consider supporting us in our final hours in our fight against Woolworths, please sign the attached message and send it to Woolworths and agree to an embargo we wish to enact against Woolworths. Our right as individuals in protest is to send the clear and loud message that small Communities around Australia have wishes which do count. Sadly our Politicians have bowed as usual to the wishes of Big Business.

Fact...>80% of our Community do not want Woolies or at worst would support Woollies to relocate to another suitable site other than the current one which now has concrete piers laid.

Fact....It is within 4 Yes! 4 metres of a habitated Platypus Stream ... we know of at least 50 platypus burrows entering under the construction site, no-body but no-body with a sane mind wants this site developed except Woolworths.

Fact....We have as a small Community desperately over three years, tried by all reasonable means to negotiate and reason with Woolworths’ Management but they will not listen to us......but of course they will take our and your hard earned money at every opportunity.

As Australians, we have all seen on Television how the big supermarkets are importing more and more food product from overseas and selling them as their own in-house " Home Brands " slowly but surely killing our own farming Community and families, right here in Australia. There is a tractor drive across Victoria highlighting this very topic, right now.

Do Woolwotrths care about sensitive Community issues or the impact it has, let alone the effect it has on fellow Australian families....No Way... It is the bottom profit line syndrome every time.

It is time that the Directors and Management understood that they have a moral commitment to listen to their local customers no matter where they are and their respective local Communities as they blatantly do not care a "hoot" about local Community fears, families or wishes.

Maleny has ( 7 ) seven Woollies within a 40 minute radius, nearest 20 minutes away, if it were seven smallpox cases it would be declared a major outbreak.

Fact....we have raised over $800,000 locally already to negotiate to buy the site for the platypus and the remainder of the approximate $2M has been guaranteed, but Woollies won't listen and YES there are other suitable options available to them within our township as they made a commercial decision to come here.

The only way we have left open to us now is to hit them where it hurts and ask fellow Australians to assist us in our fight to have Woolworths listen to our wishes and relocate their proposed store away from the sensitive and precious water source we wish to save and keep pristine. This is not only happening here. Moree is currently planning  to fight a similar battle. Buderim tried, but are now ravaged by the resultant traffic chaos.

Please read our message and if you support us, please fill out, sign and forward to Woolworths. We would further ask of you to send this to as many of your friends as you can, as quickly as you can for us, as time is fast running out. Construction has commenced in earnest as all piers have to be in place before the Platypus breeding season in August.

We are a small caring Community with much history that truly cares for our surrounds and is desperate for your support. This may take a little effort from you to assist us in sending a loud and clear message to the Board of Woolworths as the Management will not and does not listen to our Community concerns.

Your Community may be next.



Many Many Thanks



The Community and Platypus of Maleny Queensland.



To: "rcorbett@woolworths.com.au"
Subject: Woolworths and Australia

The Chairman and Board of Directors,

Woolworth's Australia.


I, the undernamed, do fully support the endeavours of the people and Community of Maleny Queensland, in seeking to have Woolworth's relocate their proposed new store site away from the environmentally sensitive fresh water stream occupied by our native species namely the Australian Platypus.

As a current Woolworths1 customer, I would further strongly urge that the Woolworths' Board instruct Management to enter into fair and reasonable negotiations to sell the site to the local Community of Maleny so they may return it to it's original sub tropical condition to protect the Obi Obi Creek, platypus, fauna and flora and their Community surrounds.

I would further urge the Woolworth's Board to instruct Management, as a new policy of Woolworths, to "listen to their customers and to the wishes of communities" as they hold the money that you constantly seek for your continued growth.

As an Australian, I would also wish to register with you, my very real concern as a consumer, at the growing trend of the Supermarket Chains buying non Australian produce instead of that produced by our farming Community locally, and trying to disguise it as a 3Home Branded Product ". Should I have to pay a small amount more to have Australian, I will, and am prepared to do so for the benefit of my greater Australian Community.

Your Woolworth's Supermarket that I shop at locally is at SUBURB NAME and that I will use my best endeavours to shop at a local shop first, and then at IGA, Bi-Lo or Coles Supermarket or any other alternative Supermarket as of the 1st August  2005 as part of my sincere protest should I not be given the courtesy of a suitable written reply by the said date to my address below (or e-mail address), clearly outlining Woolworth's decisions on the Maleny Project and other concerns I am in total agreement with, as listed above.

Yours Most Sincerely,



Your Name




Your Address











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