News and Events:

A 500 strong crowd of farmers, environmentalists and concerned citizens gathered at 'Waverley' on Wednesday 19th May to take part in a peaceful rally against the expansion of the Coal Seam Gas Mining Industry on the Darling Downs.

They were accompanied by the massing of 54 cotton and grain harvesters and tractors in a kilometre long blockade - to provide a strong show of farm power to protest against the intrusion of mining companies on prime agricultural land.

The farmers cheered when rally organiser Dave Armstrong called for a moratorium on mining activities so that major environment issues, such as the mining companies' proposed use of large quantities of underground water, could be addressed.

'Waverley' is the first intensive cropping property on the black soil plains that has been approached by a mining company looking to prove their methane reserves in the area.

An announcement by the Bligh government that it will introduce new laws this week to supposedly harmonise relations between farmers and coal seam gas miners has been met with scepticism by both farmers and environmentalists. The media release from the office of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister, Stephen Robertson, is a turgid mixture of wishful thinking, political spin and outright lies.

At a meeting in Dalby on the 16th of April, 2010, Queensland Leader of the Opposition John-Paul Langbroek outlined the five planks of the LNP's commitment to the preservation of prime agricultural land. His speech is provided in full here.

Steve Austin from 612 ABC Radio interviewed Drew Hutton on the 19th April on the impact of 40,000 proposed coal seam gas wells across rural Queensland.  Download the interview here.