Last Saturday, six normally law-abiding farmers from the Coonamble/Pilliga area decided to lock themselves on to mining company machinery and risk arrest. 

A large group of farmers and community members in the area have been alarmed for years at the government’s approval of the development of coal seam gas mining in the Great Artesian Basin. 

They’ve gone through the proper channels: lobbying their parliamentary representatives, seeking expert advice, doing their own research, studying the mining company’s own reports. 

“This industry cannot provide the guarantee I need that our water won’t be contaminated by coal seam gas activities. Santos’ own reports admit the risk of damaging groundwater, our most vital resource,” said Robert Thomas, a Gulargambone farmer with a truck contracting business, who ‘locked on’ on Saturday. 

The six farmers and others, including an Armidale grandmother, are the tip of the iceberg of a mass of people who have, by petitions, surveys and rallies, made clear to the government there is a well-founded fear of damage to water, thus threatening the future of agriculture and the environment. 

Does the government only have ears for the mighty short-term dollar? 

Barbara Finch

Armidale