Margaret River 16-year-old Harper McKinney hopes to rally the community in calls to end native logging

A Margaret River 16-year-old, Harper McKinney, is hoping to rally the community this weekend in calls to end mining in WA’s native forests Harper, along with Parents for Climate Action’s Ellie Ward are leading one of 13 marches taking place across Australia this Sunday to call for an end of native deforestation. The Margaret River protest will align with a protest in Perth on the same day with WA Forest alliance convenor Jane Hutchison and live music at the Margaret River event. Harper said the last time the Marg’s community showed up to save the forests from logging people power worked with WA officially banning the practice. “Now we need to stand up to end forest mining,” he said. Ms Ward said every single tree counts and we need to stand up for them. “Forests play a crucial role in regulating the climate and providing homes to billions of animals not to mention the very air we breathe. But instead of protecting the trees Australia is a world leader in deforestation and extinction,” she said. The nationwide protests are being co-ordinated by the Bob Brown Foundation with Perth march organiser Paddy Cullen saying expanded bauxite mining in jarrah forests would be a death blow to endangered black cockatoos. “We need to tell the Government that mining must be phased out of the forest with a fair transition for workers in the same way as we ended forest logging in 2024,” he said. “People power ended logging and people power can end forest mining too.”