Farmers joined with environmentalists to oppose the extension of a coalmine near Jondaryn, Queensland, on February 20. Photo: Max Reithmuller
“Something is badly amiss when Queensland bushies embrace Green Left Weekly, and the opposite ends of the political fringe, the Greens and Bob Katter’s Australian Party, find a common cause,” began a February 22 editorial in Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian, the only national daily newspaper in this country.
The Australian was furious at the growing urban and rural alliance that has come together against coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mining — an industry that is spreading like a cancer in many parts of the country, especially in Queensland and NSW. This is a broad alliance that GLW strongly supports.
As Liam Flenady, a Socialist Alliance candidate in the coming Queensland election, says in this issue: “The Queensland coal industry is already massive and is expanding rapidly. CSG companies are planning to drill 18,000 wells across the state.
“What this all means is that our food and water security is severely endangered. Farmers are mobilising against the incursions of the giant corporations onto their land and environmentalists are alarmed that precious natural habitat is being destroyed at a furious pace.”
Green Left Weekly
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