CSG sees National Party being ditched in Northern NSW

It's certainly looking like the Lieberals are, overall, home and hosed in the New South Wales election tomorrow, however the Nationals are in quite a bit of bother in the north. It's one main issue up there, coal seam gas, and the desire by farmers and locals not to see it come to the state as it has in Queensland. Suddenly the Nationals are looking vulnerable in seats where they have a 20% margin:

On Saturday, Shearman, still a farmer at 78, won’t be encouraging voters to stick with the Nationals. He is too old-fashioned to disclose how he will vote himself, but he believes the Greens will get most support in Lismore, held by the Nationals by a normally impenetrable margin of 24.3%. One issue has shaken Shearman’s entire political outlook and is defining this election in large swaths of country NSW: the fight to stop coal seam gas. 

Before Shearman resigned as president at Lismore, he and Nola drove to Chinchilla in Queensland to look at its CSG operation. He decided that gas wells and water treatment ponds and endless trucks and dust didn’t suit the lush green hills of Lismore, with its small farms and bad roads. He came home and reported what he had seen to the Nationals, but says the party didn’t want to listen. 

“I’m very much against CSG. I don’t want them invading our land and transforming our land whatsoever. I went to see the local member, spoke at meetings, but all he would do is change the subject.” Nola, also a Nationals member for more than 40 years, adds: “We’ve got to stop it from coming here, once it’s here it’s here.” 

................................. 

A recent poll says that, despite its 24.6% margin on paper, it could fall to Labor with Green preferences on this issue – even though there are no known CSG reserves in Ballina and only a small slice of the electorate is covered by an exploration licence. Nearby Lismore and Tweed, both held by the Nationals with margins of more than 20%, are also vulnerable to Labor and Green challenges and do have exploration licences over big chunks of them. 

Spooner hands out his literature at a local farmers market at the town of Bangalow, beautifully green and hip. He compares the intensity of the mood to the battle to save Tasmania’s Franklin dam in the early 1980s. “This election is a referendum on CSG on the north coast.” more