On Thursday morning, about 70 Greens supporters turned out in Curtis Park at Armidale to breakfast with members of the Greens' Stop Adani convoy, and speak with retired senior Greens politician Bob Brown.
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"You can't retire off the planet until you're planted in it, and I'm not one to be sitting at home moping about the destruction of the biosphere," Dr Brown said.
The convoy was in New England on its way to a big rally in Canberra on Saturday. It has already travelled thousands of kilometres to oppose the Adani mine in Queensland after setting out from Hobart and travelling as far north as Rockhampton, Airlie and Clermont. Glen Innes mayor and Green member Carol Sparks joined the convoy in Queensland.
What I learnt there, and what I said there, was that any violence would be at the door of the Murdoch media up there.
- Bob Brown
Dr Brown said the coming election was a stark choice between Mr Adani and the future of our children.
"Take your pick, but you can't have both," he said.
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"I am very keen to be doing something about this. It's great to have so many folk here in Armidale this morning turning out to say, 'Yeah, we think the same way'. Everywhere I go, we've had a lovely reception from locals."
Dr Brown criticised some Queensland News Corp media outlets that reported the convoy would not be welcome there.
"They predicted that before we got there, and that blow-ins from the south would get a very hard time," he said.
"There was talk, through selectively gathered comments, that we would get a hostile reception in Clermont. What I learnt there, and what I said there, was that any violence would be at the door of the Murdoch media up there.
"I hold them responsible for dropping the Australian Journalists' Code of Ethics, which says you must keep yourself out of the news columns, and put fair and balanced reporting in there."
Dr Brown said he thought Australian politics was in for a turbulent period as a wave of new, younger voters with a "We are not going to take this attitude" began to change the dynamics of the polls.
"I think the young people are the hope of the future," he said. "I've heard some brilliant young people speaking at our meetings as we're going along, and think, 'Wow!'.
"We'll have two or three of them speak on Sunday morning in Canberra. I think this planet has got some big changes, but it has got leaders emerging from the youth.
"And these are not leaders who are simply reading the Stock Exchange; these are leaders who are reading the temperature of the planet, and want to make sure it is safe for the future."
Mr Brown agreed Australia once led the world in conservation.
"Then along came big mining corporations, public relations, lobbyists, and took over our democracy. They've stolen it through money and corrupted it, and we need it back," he said.
