MORE than 15,000 hit the streets of Fremantle last Sunday to protest the Barnett government’s plans to build a gas hub at James Price Point.

The Concert for the Kimberley saw one of the biggest rallies ever staged in the port city, outstripping the 2002 Rally for Ningaloo.

Fremantle bluesman John Butler led a lineup against Woodside’s proposed $40 million gas hub that included Missy Higgins, former federal Greens leader Bob Brown and a few thousand locals.

Earlier in the day Phil Roe, a lawman of the Goolarabooloo people, said he was “here to protect his heritage, culture and burial sites”.

“I’m here to spread the message and invite the people to come up to the Kimberley and help fight Barnett,” he said, clearly overcome with emotion.

“This is our life. “It is as simple as that.”

When the Herald asked what his single most important message to Colin Barnett was, he snapped: “Back off”.

Butler says the area 60km north of Broome is a pristine environment that shouldn’t be touched.

“The reason we have come here today in solidarity—and many different people from different walks of life and many different backgrounds—is to protect something that is near and dear to our hearts,” he said. “Which is a beautiful place called James Price Point.

“It’s a pristine environment and the last thing we want is the world’s largest gas plant built on that site.”

Butler said despite open invitations to Mr Barnett and Labor leader Mark McGowan neither bothered to turn up. A host of local Greens pollies turned ou, as did federal Fremantle Labor MP Melissa Parke.

Missy Higgins, who had come came straight from the airport, said she considered herself a local of the Kimberley.

“I’m a ratepayer in Broome and I spend a lot of time there,” she said.“I can’t think of anything worse than desecrating this area,” she said.

“I really feel like our generation is going to regret it if we ruin it.”

by BRENDAN FOSTER