A convoy of tractors hit the road across the Breeza Plains yesterday in a protest against Shenhua’s Watermark coal mine near Gunnedah and they had some heavy hitters aboard.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie is the latest high-profile Australian to add their voice to the concerns of farmers across the Plains and she made sure she was there yesterday to add some clout to the tractor trek.

Why would a Tasmanian senator be concerned about an issue so far from home?

That’s easy, the senator says – she’s always been concerned about Tasmanian farmers and that state’s farmland, and that concern extends to prime agricultural land anywhere.

And, she makes it clear that if The Nationals are going to remain silent on the issue, then someone has to speak up and stand up for farmers.

It will be music to the ears of Plains producers who are still awaiting the final word on the mine’s fate from the federal government.

It comes, too, as the Abbott government revealed plans to repeal a section of Australia’s environment laws that allows green groups to challenge approvals for mining projects and other large developments in the courts. 

The action has come after it was used successfully by a Queensland conservation group to overturn federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s approval of a mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.

Mr Abbott said he wants to rid Australia of “vigilante legislation” that allows groups to engage in “law-fare” that is sabotaging investment and jobs.

But, the criticism has come thick and fast as critics accuse the government of simply trying to “silence any voices that have a contrary view to their own”.

The argument that anyone who speaks out against mine approvals is “sabotaging” the nation’s economy is getting tired.

There is nothing wrong with mining, many would argue, but they have to be in the right place. 

The fact is the economy and the environment are not mutually exclusive; one cannot thrive without the other.

That’s what those behind the wheels of those tractors were saying yesterday –  and as Australians who make their living from the land, they understand this reality far better than most.