FREE /MARCH 2026 THE STAR IS AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION FOR LOCAL PEOPLE BY LOCAL PEOPLE ESTABLISHED 2021
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02 - 10 : NEWS
11 - 15 : LIFESTYLE
18 - 20 : SPORT
Years of youth work recognised.
Arts Trail celebrates local artists’ talents.
Bridgetown bowled over in Pennants.
“The world is awash with lithium and we don’t need to get it out of a forest, we can get it out of places that are less damaging to the environment.” JENNY DEWING
Jenny Dewing, Jon Steer and Alison Wright are determined to stop exploration in Dalgarup Forest.
Mining threatens Dalgarup forest A
mining exploration application covering 321 square kilometres southwest of Bridgetown is being vigorously opposed by Bridgetown environmentalists. They claim if mining goes ahead it will devastate an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot, threaten water resources, and cost the local tourist industry $1.8 million each year in lost revenue.
Flinders Prospecting Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian mining company IGO, which has a share in Talison’s Greenbushes mine, has applied for a mining exploration licence for lithium, tantalum, and tin, though lithium is its main target. While recognising the global need for lithium in the global energy transition, the BridgetownGreenbushes Friends of the Forest, and the
Blackwood Environment Society claim the process needed to extract lithium from the hard rock deposits in the area is particularly energy intensive and environmentally destructive. They claim there are far less damaging ways to obtain lithium elsewhere. “The world is awash with lithium and we don’t need to get it out of a forest, we can get it out CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
RISING FROM I THE ASHES
t’s been almost three years in the wilderness, but like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Bridgetown-Greenbushes Star is back! When the paper abruptly ceased production back in April 2023 it was a devastating personal blow. I was looking forward to producing a monthly tabloid paper to meet the needs of the Bridgetown and Greenbushes community into the future, and hopefully handing over the reigns in the long term. Sadly the closure of the state’s only independent newsprint press, Ive, abruptly put an end to that, as it soon became clear that the 7 West Media group had no interest in printing a competing paper. The Bridgetown-Greenbushes Star wasn’t alone. Right across the state independent country newspapers competing with 7 West Media’s papers folded.
BRIDGETOWN-GREENBUSHES STAR
But now your paper is back, thanks to the Post Newspapers. The Post publishes award-winning suburban newspapers across Perth’s western suburbs under the stewardship of its legendary founder and Managing Editor, Bret Christian. Fed up with relying on 7 West Media, who were abusing their monopoly on the state’s only newsprint press, he acquired his own press last year, and is only too keen to see other independent newspapers flourish by printing them as well. I, for one, can’t thank him enough for that. So welcome back to your very own BridgetownGreenbushes Star, with all the news that’s fit to print about your community. I hope you enjoy it! Mark Schneider, Editor
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