CSG and coal mining stories

Liverpool Plains farms in miners’ sights

June 14, 2015 mickdaleyo

Published in The Saturday Paper
Aug 16, 2014

Generational farmers are preparing to stand their ground as BHP and China Shenhua Energy seek to mine coal in some of the nation’s richest agricultural land, on the NSW Liverpool Plains.

It is late afternoon when we finally spot a white kangaroo. Tim Duddy, the Liverpool Plains farmer with a family of five, is elated when our photographer Dean Sewell snaps pictures from the Land Rover as the creature, luminous in the dusk, bounds away towards a tree line.

Continue reading “Liverpool Plains farms in miners’ sights” →

CSG and coal mining stories, Journalism

Gloucester Dreaming

December 4, 2014 mickdaleyo

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

As dawn broke and mist lifted off the Avon River, six police vehicles rolled down Fairbairns Lane towards us, eight kilometres from Gloucester. Outside the gate shielding the river paddock where AGL’s gas hub is hidden behind a fifty metre square fortress, around 30 protesters tensed in the chill air. Continue reading “Gloucester Dreaming” →

CSG and coal mining stories, Journalism

A woman of substance

July 21, 2014 mickdaleyo

I attended the 80^th birthday party of Valerie Axtens, a delightful and much loved Lismore matriarch, a few years ago. Midway through the afternoon the modest party was enlivened by the mayor, Cr Jenny Dowell, who marched briskly in and began greeting everyone warmly by name. I was astonished when she knew my name and enough about to have a short but genuine conversation – but that’s the kind of person the mayor of Lismore is. Continue reading “A woman of substance” →

CSG and coal mining stories, Journalism

Rock promoter pops the gas bubble

July 17, 2014 mickdaleyo

Nick Hanlon had already lived several lives when she decided to take on gas miners through the power of music. The fearless promoter of the hugely successful Rock the Gate and protest camp Pop-Up concerts grew up singing and acting and, having trained as an opera soprano, won Sydney Eisteddford singing in Gaelic. Continue reading “Rock promoter pops the gas bubble” →

CSG and coal mining stories, Journalism

The law of the land

July 7, 2014 mickdaleyo

When I spoke to the unstoppable law enforcer Sue Higginson she was still in the office at 10pm on a Tuesday night. After a landmark win over Whitehaven Coal to stop the slaughter of native animals with a brutal winter tree clearing in Leard Forest, she was celebrating with a single glass of champagne and a few more hours work. Continue reading “The law of the land” →