Coal lobbyist stoops to new low, taking aim at local farmers

Lobby group Coal Australia has called a group of local farmers and their families in Central Queensland "intolerable" for trying to protect their town from a nearby coal mine expansion.

New Hope's mine, which sits 100m away from the town of New Acland, has forced many families to leave their homes due to the intolerable air and noise pollution.

This week, Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) - a group of local farmers from the area - made the difficult decision to withdraw their appeal against New Hope's water licence, marking the end of over a decade in legal battles against the corporation that spent over $100 million to defeat the local farmers.

Queensland Conservation Council campaigner Charlie Cox said

Fossil fuel lobbyists like Coal Australia stooped to a new low this week when they threw insults at OCAA, a group of ordinary Queenslanders who were simply trying to defend their home town.

Pitching New Hope as an underdog when they've already begun bragging about doubling their output after OCAA’s legal withdrawal is insulting.

Coal Australia is the same lobby group who poured over a million dollars into last year's Queensland State Election, and they’re taking offence to a group of ordinary Queenslanders just trying to participate in democracy?

It’s not just ironic, it's a sign these faceless groups backed by deep industry pockets know the writing is on the wall for their endless, climate-wrecking profits.

Instead of working with coal communities on a transition plan that will actually secure the future of these communities when Queensland's ageing coal fleet retires, Coal Australia is stoking a culture war.

For more than a decade, farmers and their families used whatever tools were available to them to protect their town and their livelihoods. These comments from Coal Australia are a baseless attempt to delegitimise a farming community's right to participate in democracy.

Banner image: Oakey Coal Action Alliance

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