THE Harvest Festival on the Liverpool Plains has spread the message that Shenhua’s mine is planned for the wrong place, with more than 700 people flocking to the food bowl.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hosted on farmer Andrew Pursehouse’s property at Breeza, the weekend festival saw more than 600 registrations, with many local farmers joining in after the registrations on Friday and Saturday nights.
“We had a good 750 people and we were expecting about 500,” Mr Pursehouse said.
“Caterers kept running out of food and we had to do emergency food runs to town.
Pilliga Pottery catered the event, with Liverpool Plains Youth selling drinks and merchandise.
As well as showing support for the farmers and residents of the Liverpool Plains, the event was also about educating visitors about the region and where their food comes from.
“We had 104 cars loaded and we did a drive through the middle of the plains to the Shenhua boundary fence,” Mr Pursehouse said.
“We are hoping that Shenhua and the government gets the message that this mine will never have a social licence to operate and the BHP one as well. That social licence extends to the nation now, it’s not just Liverpool Plains, not just NSW, this is a national issue. People came from Melbourne, Canberra, South Coast, Sydney, mid-north Coast, Lismore and North Coast, Brisbane and all the locals.”
Mr Pursehouse said it was an educational weekend aimed at getting people to understand why the farmers on the Liverpool Plains know that these mines should not go ahead, with specialists speaking to the crowds about water and economics.
Political support came from Jeremy Buckingham from the Greens NSW, Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, former New England MP Tony Windsor and Senator Jacqui Lambie, along with National Farmers Federation vice-president Fiona Simson.
“Jacqui Lambie will be taking the message to parliament this week and writing a media release to appeal directly to Malcolm Turnbull who was here about four years ago,” Mr Pursehouse said.
“He’s a landholder in the Upper Hunter and had been the water minister and he’s well-respected on the Liverpool Plains. We appeal to him to stop this happening before it becomes a very nasty situation. We’ll do whatever it takes and part of this weekend was learning how to do non-violent protesting.”
