Planned protests went ahead at Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coal mine over the weekend, and continue this week, despite the closure of the local protester hub, ‘Camp Wando’.
Additional specialist police resources from Sydney and Western regions have been deployed to the Maules Creek area to help contain and remove protesters.
Five people who locked themselves onto the mine entrance, blocking vehicles, have so far been arrested.
A Leard Forest Alliance spokesperson claims there are over 300 protestors involved, with some attempting to halt clearing of the state forest by suspending themselves in the tree canopy and roping off sections of the bush.
Narrabri Acting Inspector Robert Dunn said the protesters had moved their base camp from Camp Wando to another local property and were roving in areas surrounding the mine.
Infrastructure remains on Camp Wando, a farm on the outskirts of Maules Creek, but it appears protesters are no longer camping there as per Narrabri Shire Council orders.
The camp has provided protesters with a camping area, kitchen and toilet facilities for more than a year but Narrabri Shire Council recently took action to have the camp closed.
Council ordered the owner of the property, Cliff Wallace, to submit a Development Application (DA) in order to convert his property to a registered camping area, but the DA was never submitted.
Narrabri Shire acting director of planning, Mr Tony Meppem explains why council took action.
“The biggest issue has been the comings and goings of traffic and the inconvenience caused to other local residents,” he said.
“Council resolved back in May last year to restrict the number of people on Camp Wando at any one time and for Mr Wallace to lodge a DA within 60 days.
“He’s given a written undertaking to cease the activity and council received that letter the day before Christmas in 2014.
“If camping continued then council would be left with no choice but to seek an order in the Land and Environment Court to prohibit the activity permanently.
“However we don’t want to do that. We’re trying to avoid that outcome.”
Mr Meppem said there was a misconception that council can stop protests by closing the camp.
“All they’ll do is move somewhere else, we can’t stop his guests protesting, that’s a police matter,” he said.
“Mr Wallace can still host protestors, there’s no problem with that, but he can’t run an organised camping ground without development consent, or hold events like protest concerts because it impacts on the neighbours.”
Front Line Action on Coal, one of the groups supporting and using Camp Wando, wrote an open letter to the Narrabri Shire Council, denouncing its decision to close the camp.
“The campaign against coal mining in the Leard is far from over… council’s actions are not only inappropriate, but futile,” the letter reads.
“The wider community’s need for farmland, uncontaminated underground water, clean air and social and environmental justice will not disappear simply because council have attempted to disperse a single camp at Wando.
“By stepping in and moving on this camp, you are selling our message better than we could.
“It is no shock that council have set this deadline just a week before Whitehaven and Idemitsu begin ten weeks of destroying the Leard State Forest - a site of high Aboriginal and cultural heritage significance and also a critically endangered state forest with tier one biodiversity.
“The deadline also comes at a time when our host Cliff Wallace faces personal health issues - known to the council - and we consider this to be a weak and callous action against one of its own constituents.”
Protesters seemed unperturbed by the closure of Camp Wando over the weekend, rallying on the stock routes near the mine entrance and locking onto machinery.
The Leard Forest Alliance coordinated the 6-day protest to hinder the commencement of clearing in Leard State forest on February 13.
Whitehaven has state government approval to clear areas of the Leard Forest to make way for the next stage of the coal mine, but the company can only clear at restricted times of the year to minimise native animal disturbance.