PADDLE POWER

THE message was loud and clear from a protest staged at Burleigh yesterday – plans to pump oil in the Great Australia Bight must not go ahead.

Thousands took part in the protest, which included a paddle out that brought hundreds of surfers into the water, as this stunning shot from Lachlan Gardiner clearly shows.

“NO Way Equinor.”

This was the message chanted by more than a thousand protesters at Burleigh this morning.

The crowd paddled out to protest potential oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight by Norwegian company Equinor.

Tayla Hanak comes from Streaky Bay in South Australia but after missing the paddle out there she came to the Burleigh event while on a university placement.

“I think it’s important that we all stand together so we can be heard from a whole rather than an individual,” she said. “Even if a spill doesn’t happen and the drilling goes ahead the amount of noise and sound that occurred underwater will effect the migration patterns of so many species.

“Even if the worst case scenario doesn’t happen the effect will be detrimental.”

Before the paddle out attendees listened to messages about protecting the ocean and the effects of a potential oil spill.

The crowd carried signs with messages including “Keep your paws off our shores,” “Bight me Equinor,” and “Fight for the Bight.”

Gold Coast resident Charles Charker-Pulle said he wanted to one day retire to a location around the Great Australian Bight and hoped the paddle out would show drilling is an issue all Australians care about.

“We want to make as much noise as possible and get public attention to never have any drilling in the Bight,” he said.

The event was organised by the Surfriders Foundation and Gold Coast branch president Greg Howell said the paddle out was designed to get politicians attention.

“Nothing in Australia gets done politically unless the people get up and yell and scream and we hoped to do that so politicians will recognise that it’s an issue that Australians are passionate about,” he said.

“Drilling down in the Great Australian Bight is ridiculous.”

Mr Howell first joined the organisation 27 years ago.

“I’m a surfer and I could see the environment wasn’t being recognised as valuable as it should have been,” Mr Howell said.

Picture: MIKE BATTERHAM The paddle out at Burleigh to protest against an oil company’s plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight and (from top right) pro surfers Bede Durbidge and Jack Freestone, plus Elise Milner were among those voicing their opposition.