Today's decision by the NSW Land and Environment Court meeting in Singleton to issue a court order granting coal mining company NuCoal access to the property of Jerrys Plains farmer Ian Moore shows how skewed the law is in relation to the rights of landholders.
Lock the Gate Alliance president, Drew Hutton, who was in court today, said that, if Ian and Robyn Moore wished to continue their fight to protect their land, his organisation would stand behind them.
"What we saw here today was the sheer injustice of the land access provisions in New South Wales," Mr Hutton said.
"Ian Moore is a legally blind farmer who has lived on and worked this property since the 1950s. He knows every inch of his farm and so his disability does not prevent him from being a very good farmer.
"Now the law says he must allow a mining company to come onto his land to trash it."
Mr Hutton said he would organise supporters of the Moores to stand with Ian and Robyn and deny entry to the company, if that is what the Moores wished.
"The only way we are going to preserve good farm land against the tidal wave of mining sweeping across rural Australia is a people's movement that denies access to these companies and forces the govenment to introduce a better balance between the rights of farmers and those of mining companies," Mr Hutton said.
"At present the law is written totally in favour of mining interests and Premier O'Farrell must respond with reforms that protect food security, underground water, the health of local communities and important environmental areas."