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Tilly
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Mapleton
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 Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:39 am Post subject: Heart of Gold Film Festival - sponsored by QWI |
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Wrote to Heart of Gold about my horror that they accepted corporate sponsorship from QWI. Here's my letter, and the response.
| Quote: | Dear Toni Powell and other organisers
I was dismayed to learn today that Heart of Gold has accepted sponsorship from Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd, the proponent for the disastrous proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
Your film festival was a precious, longed-for event in my annual calendar. I have been almost counting the days with excitement. Heart of Gold meant for me a chance to unwind, to laugh, to take a break from the rigours of the world, to laugh, to cry, to be uplifted and reminded of beauty, hope, optimism and love. Against a backdrop of community decimation at the hands of QWI Pty Ltd and the state government, your festival was a little ray of sunlight.
Do you know that, by QWI's own admission, mental health presentations including ‘suicidal ideation, disassociative order, major depression, and adjustment disorders’ (EIS, p.15-124) in the Gympie region increased four-fold with every key announcement made during the early phases in the dam's development? This is a sign that QWI is incapable of managing the process, or it is evidence that the process is too severely detrimental to be allowed to proceed (or both)? Surely you can't condone this social impact.
Are you aware of the expert evidence given at the Senate Enquiry that every single property sale had been a forced resumption by QWI on behalf of the Queensland Government, and the ongoing substantiated allegations of bullying and harassment, particularly of elderly and vulnerable residents who are intimidated and overwhelmed by your sponsors? Do you really want their money?
Have you not heard the stories of your fellow residents in the Mary River basin whose lives and hearts have been broken by the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam? Aren't you sickened by now being complicit in what will likely be remembered as the greatest environmental and social tragedy in the Mary Valley in contemporary times?
Do you not wonder at the feasibility of a large, shallow dam on rich, alluvial flood plains replete with threatened and endangered species, and a delicate wetland of international significance at the river mouth?
As a Festival Director, you have a significant social responsibility which is particularly exercised through the sponsorship deals which are made. I am so disappointed that you, the Management Board and others, could have sold out to the company responsible for such tremendous heartbreak, trauma, grief and pain in the very community from which Heart of Gold has emerged.
I have today cancelled my plans to attend the festival. I hope you will make the time to help me understand what you have done.
Yours,
Tilly |
And in response:
| Quote: | Hi Tilly, thank you for letting us know your views on funding sources for the Heart of Gold Festival. This helps us to plan for future events.
You may remember we delayed the festival because of lack of funding. It was looking like we would not go ahead at all and this was the situation we were facing when we were offered $5,000 from QWI. Unfortunately sponsorship is so hard to come by at the moment that even that small amount came under our Major category, so we are currently funded by lots of small contributions.
I understand your reaction but perhaps it is based on incorrect assumptions that Heart of Gold was somehow an anti -dam organisation? The management, staff and volunteers at Heart of Gold come from all walks of life, holding diverse opinions, faiths and political views. The decision to take a small amount of money from QWI was reached after a lot of agony by the Heart of Gold board /staff and the personal feelings of some of the decision makers had to be put aside.
Last year we placed a Full page advert for the Mary River cause and this year one of our shortlisted photos in our International Photographic Awards competition is a very beautiful anti dam image (by Arkin Mackay). We screen films about the environment, and are totally committed to what our aims are "moving the world in positive directions..".
We are not a political organisation and seek to remain impartial. We are about being positive and that means being inclusive rather than exclusive, we are not 'against' anyone but 'for' making the world a better place.
I would urge you to reconsider your boycott as you personally miss out on fun and laughter and you and your friends miss out on the opportunity to help the festival get to a place where we don't need to desperately seek funds from any source. It would be such a counter productive action by Mary River Supporters to damage an event that brings so much good to the area.
thanks Toni
Toni Powell
Festival Director
Po Box 726, Gympie, QLD
4570, Australia
Ph +61 7 54837000
www.heartofgold.com.au |
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Rev Watt
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 562
Location: Imbil
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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I challenged Toni to make a film about Mary's plight when the dam was first announced at the first rally in Gympie, on the 13th May 2006.
She was there protesting the dam.
"Too busy sorry."
Tilly said
| Quote: | | Quote: | | I am so disappointed that you, the Management Board and others, could have sold out to the company responsible for such tremendous heartbreak, trauma, grief and pain in the very community from which Heart of Gold has emerged. |
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Toni said:
| Quote: | | The decision to take a small amount of money from QWI was reached after a lot of agony by the Heart of Gold board /staff and the personal feelings of some of the decision makers had to be put aside. |
You nailed it Tilly.
_________________
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. John 4:13f |
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jmen
Joined: 04 Jun 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Kandanga
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 4:57 am Post subject: Heart of Gold Award to Tilly |
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I am proud to announce Tilly as the recipient of the Real HEART OF GOLD Award 
Thank you for socking it to her. |
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Darren E
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2075
Location: Dagun, Qld
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:22 am Post subject: |
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It's not a question of $5,000. It's a question of what, precisely, is being bought and sold.
_________________
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything" - anon.
"There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies" - Walter Lippman |
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 6:53 am Post subject: |
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Quote Toni Powell
| Quote: | | We are not a political organisation and seek to remain impartial. We are about being positive and that means being inclusive rather than exclusive, we are not 'against' anyone but 'for' making the world a better place. |
Accepting money from QWIPL is not the same as accepting funds from The Queensland Government. QLD government funding is okay, QWI or CFTF funding is offensive to me.
Despite what they try and tell themselves, they are not just accepting $5000 from any old 'company', this particular one is decimating communities, destroying livelihoods, ruining lives, taking ancestral farms from families, wiping outs areas that are of high environmental, cultural and indigenous value, taking the roof's from over children's heads, giving children years and months of nightmares, desecrating cemetaries, intimidating people out of their homes, ruining businesses......I need not go on or I will get upset.
If someone accepts monetary donations and 'gifts' from QWI, then they are not impartial in my eyes. If the Heart of Gold could not survive without the sponsorship of one sponsor then perhaps they need to readdress the validity of the event. If QWI wasn't around, didn't exist, what would they do?
An event such as this has an obligation, I beleive, to look past accepting gifts from companies that are destroying communities and lives, and stay true to what is normally perceived as a moral compass.
_________________
CESARE LOMBROSO "The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand" |
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Darren E
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2075
Location: Dagun, Qld
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:28 am Post subject: |
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I wonder if Toni knows yet what GN wants for his five grand. Will it be a Muster-style muzzle on protests, with patrons wearing "No Dam" shirts being denied entry? Or maybe just influencing the vote in the photo competition (can't have a nasty anti-dam photo winning and upsetting a major sponsor)?
Carry some listerine with you Toni. Everyone who deals with QWIPL ends up with a bad taste in their mouth.
_________________
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything" - anon.
"There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies" - Walter Lippman |
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Tilly
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Mapleton
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:54 pm Post subject: Want to write to Heart of Gold? |
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If you feel inclined to write, here's the contacts:
email: info@heartofgold.com.au
Office phone number: 5483 7000 (open 1-4pm Monday to Friday for enquiries)
Postal Address: PO Box 726, Gympie 4570
Office address: 214 Mary St, Gympie |
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imackay
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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Extract from my letter explaining why I shan't be attending this year's Heart of Gold
"It is the cruellest of ironies that the actions of QWI would be the major stressor which many in the Mary Valley would turn to Heart of Gold to be “elevated” and “uplifted” from.
Your failure to recognise this is akin to the Blood Bank accepting sponsorship from Dracula.
Dare I say that Heart of Gold has been quite heart-less in this matter." |
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Gally
Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 111
Location: tuchekoi,mary valley,QLD
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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Take their money, then use it against them. Enlighten the spirit of all the soldiers fighting in this campaign. Use the festival to our advantage. it is a good venue to spread the word still. The festival patron Tony Barry was wearing his NO-DAM badge last year, thats big. I happen to know that Toni was outvoted by the Board on this decision. Now what i have to ask is was there ever personal attacks ever aimed at Muster organizers ? Arkins letter would be great aimed at all who actually insist on no no- dam stuff at their festival. Its was a great letter.
Thanks so much for all your efforts over there. I can smell the victory in the air.
On that note, Take care all.
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"MARY RIVER FOREVER" |
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:27 am Post subject: |
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No offense to you Gally, I just had to say in regards to my own personal feelings..
I will never enjoy or be uplifted by any event or the like that QWI is paying for - in whole or in part. For this reason I do not go to the muster and will never go until the QWI sponsorship is removed from the event and people are allowed to display no dam paraphernalia.
To me it is no different to QWI throwing a tea party and inviting us all to sup at their table. I'd tell them to stick it.
This is QWI using yet another thing in our community in order to display their logo and spread the word about their 'kindness to the locals' so, eventually, it can be used against us in their 'social impact mitigation'. Just one more item on their list of 'ways QWI has supported the local community to help them overcome the negative impacts of the dam'.
I would rather go with my family to have a picnic at Traveston Crossing or catch up with an old friend, have a movie night with loved one's, than go to any event paid for by a sponsor who has decimated my community and plotted the destruction of the one place in the world I hold dearest above all others.
Anyway, that's just me...I'm fairly stubborn.
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CESARE LOMBROSO "The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand" |
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Mulder
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 10
Location: Mary Valley
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:31 am Post subject: Selective Opinion |
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It appears that this debate has become very selective, if we really wish to stop the HOG Film Festival from having to accept funding from QWI or CFTF then the simplest solution is for us, the community to put our hands in our pockets and provide the funding required. If 50 of the people who have sold to QWI, or others if they so wish funded $100 each then this requirement for funding from QWI would vanish.
I have watched the growth of the HOG Festival since its inception, there are quite a few other communities that would desire for it to be held in their community, and some have expressed this desire, if we let this event go, what is the next to go?
Dam or No Dam some of us will have to still live here, if we have lost all our events and entertainment through lack of local support it is not going to be a very attractve community. Should "No Dam" equal "No Community"? Maybe if we attended these events and spoke with people at these events, and showed by way of logical and informed debate on the issues we have, it would do more good than boycotting the events.
Also, it appears that some of the groups in the Mary Valley whilst appearing to be sitting on one side of the fence have no problem hopping over the fence and taking some funding or the like. Some of these groups have espoused strong links to the Anti Dam movement but are quite happy to keep "mum" and pretend that they are No Dam committed. Look closely at MVI, they claim to represent the 6,000 members of the Mary Valley community, do they really represent us, and MVSS, ask them all from where they have received recent funding?
M. |
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Hi Mulder,
What is MVI and MVSS? (That's a genuine question, I'm not trying to be smart).
The only community organisation that represents my interests is the STMRCG.
I know which community groups and community projects are fed by QWI money. I don't go out of my way to boycott anyone, I simply don't have the stomach to have anything to do with them. The thought sickens me.
You mention that we would not have a very attractive community without these events. Events come and go. I have lived here all my life (with a brief few years away before coming back). This community was attractive before these events came and they'll be attractive long after these events are gone. (The Sunshine Coast can say the same of it's film festival). Not that HoG has nothing to offer the community.
Interesting to note, when speaking of the longevity of the HoG or any other event associated with QWI and the dam. If the dam goes in, then the HoG is going to be even less appealing to locals because of it's connection to this horrible crime against the community and environment.
Events that rely on sponsorship and fund raising will always teeter on the edge. Seems as though the HoG wouldn't be on this year if this dam didn't exist and QWI were only a wet dream. Would it exist next year and the year after? What must it do to remain viable if this dam fails federal approval and life goes on?
And if the dam goes in?? Are QWI going to fund HoG every year? No, QWI will be gone and the dam will be in the hands of someone like Sunwater. Are they going to fund it every year? No. So the funding HoG has accepted from this terrible company is only a stop gap at the expense of our community.
Maybe those in charge of funds managment need to address new ways of raising money to keep the HoG going because it certainly sounds like an unsustainable event.
For people like me who will still be here if the dam goes in, I do not need a film festival to make this area any more attractive a place.
P.S For the record, these are my feelings and do not in any way represent the feelings of others on this forum, or the STMRCG.
P.S.S I don't want to sound nasty here, so please don't take this the wrong way, but no-one is being selective. This thread is specifically about the HoG. I can understand why we may sound selective, but that's only because we are sticking relatively close to the topic title.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts though. They are welcome. No-one is expected to agree with everything that is said.
(Oh, wait, MVSS is the Imbil show? Is that right? If any group or event receives funding from QWI, I personally do not support them, Imbil Show or not. I support local people's and events who know better than to accept money from a company that is wiping out the Mary Valley and destroying so many lives, homes, farms and rare ecosystems. It is a shame that some people who not empathetic enough or sentimental enough to understand that kind of loyalty and passion).
I repeat..... For the record, these are my feelings and do not in any way represent the feelings of others on this forum, or the STMRCG.
_________________
CESARE LOMBROSO "The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand"
Last edited by westholme on Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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arawajo
Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 628
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmm - MVSS? I don't know what this is either Westholme.
Well, MV could be Mary Valley and we all know that the SS was Schutzstaffel, the personal body guards of a tyrant.
Does someone connected with the Mary Valley need a personal body guard?
I guess QWIPL could be the MVSS.
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When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes obligation" - Steve Biko |
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cirod
Joined: 05 Sep 2007
Posts: 60
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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I entirely agree with westholme.
In my view money from QWI is: Judas money.
I’m not trying to be smart or ridicule anybody.
I have been living in the Mary Valley for 20 years
But. I never have heard of MVI or MVSS
It is all new to me.
Maybe Mulder can enlighten us on this
If these groups are for the good of the Mary Valley and they want to save the valley from its present predicament. Well…
I’m very much interested to know about them and support them
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"Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights.
Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for dinner."--Larry Flynt |
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Darren E
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2075
Location: Dagun, Qld
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:47 am Post subject: |
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MVI - Mary Valley Inc. Started mid-last year, initiative of Cr Julie Walker. Has representatives from all of the local community groups such as Friends of Kandanga, Dagun Community Group, etc. The stated agenda for Mary Valley Inc is the future of the Mary Valley, with or without TCD.
MVSS - Mary Valley Show Society. http://www.maryvalleyshow.com/
_________________
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything" - anon.
"There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies" - Walter Lippman |
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