Skip to main content

Nationwide: Franklin River campaign

Posted 
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Franklin River flows through gorge
Nationwide: Franklin River campaign

SUBJECTS:  Civics and Citizenship, History

YEARS:  9–10


How important is the environment in an election campaign?

In this clip, explore the issue that changed Australia's conservation landscape forever: the fight to save the Franklin River.

Watch how the Tasmanian Wilderness Society used political and media strategies to influence the outcome of the 1983 federal election in order to stop the proposed development of a dam that would flood both the Franklin and Gordon rivers.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What do you know of the campaign to save the Franklin River? When did it occur? How was it resolved? What strategies can community-based organisations use to fight for causes when governments, trade unions or business groups oppose them?
  2. 2.In what ways can the Tasmanian Wilderness Society's protest be considered a 'grassroots campaign'? What methods of protest does the Wilderness Society use to stop the building of the dam? Who is the society targeting in its campaign, and what effect is it having? How can you tell? In what ways does the Society use the media to its advantage?
  3. 3.The reporter says that the damming of the Franklin River wasn't 'an issue', but 'the issue', in the 1983 federal election. What evidence does he provide to support this contention? According to the report, the main aim of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society is to 'tip out of office government members in thirteen mainland marginal seats. That, in effect, means votes for Labor.' Yet some of those members did not support the building of the dam. Why were they targeted regardless?
  4. 4.There are significant differences in the fight to save the Franklin and the failed attempt to stop the damming of Lake Pedder in 1973. Find appropriate sources to learn more about both campaigns then list the factors that led to the failure of one campaign and the success of the other. Make sure to use evidence in your response and to cite your sources.



Date of broadcast: 15 Aug 1986


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Posted