Out in force in Coonamble

Coinciding with World Water Day, the march was organised by an affiliation of local land, water and environment groups.

During the day, Coonamble Mayor Tom Cullen was handed the results from a GasField Free survey, which reportedly polled 2051 shire residents, 96 per cent of whom said they want their land or road free from CSG development.

According to local high school teacher and member of the local Stop CSG group, Stephanie Borowski, “blow-ins” hardly featured among the throng.

Mrs Borowski, who owns a mixed grazing and cropping property with her husband, said farmers and town residents alike were motivated by the significance of groundwater for their livelihoods to attend the march.

Recent headlines from the Pilliga aquifer contamination played no small part, she said.

“Often there are lot of farmers worried about CSG and aquifers, but not always the people from town.

“But because of Coonamble’s reliance on bore water, we are all aware of how important this issue is.

“Santos’ slap on the wrist fine (of $1500) for the Pilliga contamination cemented people’s fears and made them realise this is actually happening.”

Local farmer and Lock the Gate spokeswoman Anne Kennedy said Coonamble was the most recent of about 200 communities in NSW, Victoria and Queensland to make a gas field free declaration.

The land covered by the Coonamble survey extends across more than 1 million hectares, Ms Kennedy said.

“The people of Coonamble and surrounding districts say ‘no’ to coal seam gas fields.

“Our water, our farms, our futures and our health are more important than the short term gains overseas investors might make from spreading gas fields across this shire.”

However, according to members of the industry, its the positive impacts that far outweigh any negatives.

“It is instructive that no such marches or concerns exist in regions where the industry actually operates,” said Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief operating officer, eastern Australia, Paul Fennelly.

“In Queensland, the industry is spending almost $70 billion on new projects (and) is working in partnership with farmers through more than 4300 land access agreements.

“We would encourage people to look at the natural gas industry’s strong track record and to keep an open mind about the potential benefits it will bring to new areas.”