NARRABRI Shire Council has dismissed claims it is behaving in a “weak and callous” manner towards a resident hosting anti-mining campaigners on his farm.
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An open letter submitted to the council last week by protest group Front Line Action on Coal accused it of “stepping in and moving on” the camp.
Last February, farmer Cliff Wallace provided activists sanctuary on his Black Mountain Rd property after they were evicted from a camp in the Leard State Forest.
Camp Wando, as it was dubbed, served as a command post from which frequent protest actions against nearby mining operations were launched.
Following complaints from nearby residents, the council resolved last year that Mr Wallace needed to lodge a development application for the camp.
The council imposed a February 6 deadline and warned that failure to lodge could result in a fine, or even legal action.
But in its letter, Front Line Action on Coal accused the council of being “complicit” in the destruction of the forest in order to protect a $800,000-a-year deal with Whitehaven Coal.
It said the council’s actions had succeeded in “moving us from freehold lands that are rightfully Gomeroi and Cliff Wallace’s”.
“The deadline ... comes at a time when our host, Cliff Wallace, faces personal health issues – known to the council – and we consider this to be a weak and callous action against one of its own constituents,” the letter read.
But the shire’s general manager, Diane Hood, said she was surprised the group was putting the blame for the camp’s apparent disbandment on the council.
“Just before Christmas, Mr Wallace wrote to us and said they wouldn’t be submitting a DA because he’d ceased the camping activities,” she said.
“We did write to him after Christmas reminding him that he needed to take down the structures he’d erected and that if a rally was to take place, people couldn’t be camping there without a DA.
“We basically picked a date quite a bit into the future (February 6) and said we would need to follow through and check.”
Tomorrow, activists opposed to Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine will commence “six days of protest” to coincide with the resumption of clearing in the Leard State Forest.
While attendees of previous gatherings have been directed to Camp Wando, this time organisers say the “location will be released a couple of days before the event to those who RSVP”.
