Photo: Timothy Jay
By Shani Tager, Robert Price and Daniel Sharp
The banner read, ‘don’t undermine our farms’ as an unlikely scene unfolded in Australia at Queensland’s State Parliament on August 4 with ten kids on pedal tractors, two people hanging a banner off the roof of parliament house, a platypus staring down the police, “the frackman”, ten members of parliament, a federal senator and a senate candidate, an American gas activist, author and filmmaker and a large crowd that included a few busloads of farmers who made the three to four hour trip into the city.
Farmers and environmentalists, concerned citizens and rural landholders, children and grandparents rallied together at Queensland parliament house to demand protection of farmland from coal and gas mining. The groups; Six Degrees, Friends of the Earth , Save our Darling Downs, Community Climate Network Queensland, Friends of Felton, the Basin Sustainability Alliance, Western Downs Alliance, Wandoan Clean Foods Alliance, the Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group and the Queensland Conservation Council are all concerned about the threats posed to valuable cropping land, rural communities, the Great Artesian Basin and our climate. Together they brought three simple demands to the Queensland parliament –
- Ban coal and coal seam gas mining on good quality agricultural land
- Institute a moratorium on coal seam gas until the environmental and social impacts are assessed.
- Support renewable energy and sustainable agriculture.
The Frackman. Photos: Western Downs Alliance
In light of the plan to put about 40,000 gas wells across the fertile Darling Downs, one of Australia’s most agriculturally productive areas, American filmmaker and author Tara Meixsell warned the crowd that America’s recent unhappy experience with gas mining could be Queensland’s near future.
The expansion of Queensland’s coal and gas mining industries is rampant. The Queensland government is committed to doubling our coal exports. Open cut coal mines, underground coal gasification, and coal seam gas projects are being planned and developed at a frightening pace and it seems nothing is sacred. The Great Artesian Basin, an enormous underground aquifer which supports agriculture, communities and ecosystems across vast swathes of the Australian continent is under threat of contamination.
The 2.2% of Queensland which is prime cropping land is afforded no protection under current laws, risking future food security. Nature refuges have no protection. The health and livelihoods of rural communities are under threat and entire towns actually face being wiped off the map, cemeteries, war-memorials and all. Waterways are threatened by carcinogenic chemicals, heavy metals and salination from mining activities. And all of this is being vigorously pursued despite the science telling us we need to phase out fossil fuels if we don’t want climate change to wreack havoc with human societies and the plant and animal kingdoms.
Pedal Tractor Procession
Photo: Emma-Kate Rose
Modelled on a citizens assembly, the rally heard the voices of those being ignored by our government and sent a clear message that we will not sit idly by as Queensland is turned into an industrial wasteland. The banner was hung by demonstrators from Six Degrees who snuck past police and security and managed to go undetected before scaling scaffolding, traversing the roof and climbing along a ledge to unfurl their banner. They surrendered to police peacefully and were detained for questioning and later charged with “unregulated high risk activity” and trespass, they have a court date set for late August.
Amongst the speakers at the event was Mr Drew Hutton of Six Degrees
“People won’t just sit back and watch as the Queensland Government gives coal and gas mining companies the okay to turn our irreplaceable farmland and environment into an industrial wasteland,” Mr Hutton said.
Platypus tries to enter State Parliament Photo: sixdegrees.org.au
Dave Armstrong was one of the many farmers from the Darling Downs who voiced their concerns “We’re fighting the complete industrialisation of land that has the best farming soil in the nation….we simply want a pause so that the science of what is happening is properly
explored”, said Mr Armstrong.
“This demonstration is a People’s Assembly, combining the strength of the farming and environmental movements to put pressure on the government to stop the reckless expansion of coal and coal seam gas mining on high quality agricultural land and in the midst of vulnerable rural communities,” said Mr Hutton
Farmer and Friends of Felton spokesperson Rob McCreath spoke at the protest. “Mining destroys farmland, pollutes rivers, and drains aquifers. Burning coal accelerates global warming, which leads to more frequent and severe droughts. There is a solution – it’s called renewable energy” said Mr McCreath.
For more information about coal and gas mining and the campaign against their destructive effects visit www.sixdegrees.org.au. Click here for photos from the day and here to watch the speakers and see the news coverage.
For more information about the groups who participated in this action visit these websites
Six Degrees http://www.sixdegrees.org.au/
Friends of the Earth Brisbane http://www.brisbane.foe.org.au/
Friends of Felton http://www.fof.org.au/
Save Our Darling Downs http://www.sodd.com.au/
Queensland Conservation Council http://www.qccqld.org.au/
Community Climate Network Queensland http://www.climatenetworkqld.org/
Coal4Breakfast http://coal4breakfast.com.au/
Basin Sustainability Alliance http://www.basinsustainabilityalliance.org/
Western Downs Alliance http://westerndowns.group-action.com/
