Ahead of the NSW Farmers rally scheduled for next Tuesday in Sydney, it may interest your readers to know which groups will be marching under the banner of “Protect our Land and Water”.
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The rally sees the farmers standing alongside GetUp and Stop CSG Illawarra – a disturbing marriage for farmers who know the real agenda of these groups. GetUp has continuing campaigns to ban live cattle exports while Stop CSG Illawarra organisers are members of the Socialist Alliance.
As listed on the group’s website, policies include “sharply reducing cattle and sheep numbers to minimise methane emissions per head”; “permit[ting] land clearing only in exceptional circumstances and only when offset by the reforestation of equal areas of similar native vegetation;” and “a shift away from fossil-fuel based chemical pesticides and fertilisers.” (http://www.socialist-alliance.org)
Now that the government has toughened controls on coal seam gas (CSG) activities, these protest groups will soon turn on NSW farmers. If these groups succeed in stopping exploratory drilling, how long will it be before they reduce farming viability and stop farmers from drilling bore holes?
Chris Hartcher MP
Minister for Resources
and Energy
Sydney
