Make the call for the Liverpool Plains today
Call the NSW Premier on (02) 8574 5000
Always stay polite and calm. The phone will be answered by an office assistant.
Introduce yourself and where you are from.
Tell them you want to pass a message on to the Premier about the Shenhua coal mine and exploration licence.
Ask them to write down your name and address and make sure your name is passed on to the Premier.
If they will not take your message, you can send the Premier an emailed message about this mine here.
Key Talking Points
- The Resources Minister has announced a buy back of only half the exploration licence for the Shenhua coal project, on the Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah, but that won't stop the risky Shenhua Watermark coal mine.
- Paying Shenhua $262 million for half the licence and allowing the mine to proceed is unacceptable. The entire licence must be cancelled, the mine stopped and the Liverpool Plains protected in law.
- The likely risks to the precious groundwater resources, farming and food production from coal mining in this location are too high.
- The foodbowl on the Liverpool Plains is too sensitive, and has outstanding national significance. It should be given permanent protection from coal mining.
Background Information
Here’s some background to help you
- Shenhua’s Watermark coal mine on the Liverpool Plains was approved by State and Federal Governments in 2015, but no work has started on it yet. There is still time to act to stop it.
- The half of the exploration licence that has been bought back is entirely outside the area Shenhua planned to mine, and the company says the Government has agreed to renew the rest of it.
- A statement released by Shenhua after the Government announced this buy back deal confirms they intend to go ahead with the full scale of their coal mine - in fact, the Government's actions have paved the way for it.
- Shenhua is obligated to give the NSW Government $200 million when it applies for a mining lease for the Watermark coal mine, which it has stated it intends to do. The Government has effectively given them the money they needed to proceed with the mine.
- The Liverpool Plains is a farming district that produces grain and beef on rich black soils, fed by clean and abundant groundwater from the Namoi alluvial aquifer.
- It’s not an appropriate place for coal mining and the local community has fought for years to protect it, supported by people from across the state.
- The company’s exploration licence expired more than a year ago, and since that time it has been negotiating with the state Government to renew it.
- In October last year an eight year deadline passed on the original grant of the licence, giving the Minister for Resources the opportunity to cancel it.
- Shenhua cannot get a mining lease and build the Watermark mine, ruining the Liverpool Plains without first getting this exploration licence renewed.
- The State Government has the power and the opportunity to cancel the entire exploration licence and save the Liverpool Plains. We want them to do it!
