On Sunday, we will know if our region is set to become the next Hunter Valley, with the extent of mining operations to double.

At this point in time we have the independents, Christian Democrats, Labor and the Greens saying that they will ban the Pilliga coal seam gasfields, and the independents and Greens going a step further saying they will fight new coal mines on the Liverpool Plains as well.

Rarely do voters have so much say in the future of the region. 

It is an opportunity not to be squandered if you want any hope of preserving the existing rural landscape as opposed to getting a mining industrial landscape. 

It is the independents and Greens that will be fighting to keep it the way it is.

The Nationals are talking the talk about protecting what we have, but they also are supporting the expansion of mining. 

Problem is you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Once the damage is done, it is practically irreversible.

The 96 per cent of farmers who are opposed to coal seam gas on their land are not happy with the risk The Nationals are prepared to take with their livelihoods. 

They want serious protection that can assure them of clean water and food growing into the future.

Protection means taking the precautionary approach and preventing the risk by not allowing huge open-cut mines in the Liverpool Plains like you see in the Hunter, or massive gasfields like you see at Chinchilla in Queensland.

With just a day till the election, there is still time for the National Party to join the political consensus for a moratorium on coal seam gas to protect the Pilliga recharge zone of the Great Artesian Basin, and they could also change their position about allowing new coal mines on the Liverpool Plains. 

We live in hope.

If they don’t, they will be on a collision course with a lot of angry farmers.

The natural environment, agricultural land and water won’t be lining up at the polling booth to have their say. 

You will need to vote for serious protection for our natural resources, so future generations can enjoy the same clean water and productive land. 

Don’t risk it, as they say, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. 

Phil Spark 

TAMWORTH