A TRACTOR convoy with more than 100 people and 40 tractors made its way over the Liverpool Plains to Breeza to draw attention to concerns about the Shenhua Watermark mine on Friday.
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Farmers, environmentalists and Indigenous representatives joined forces to drive tractors, buses and other vehicles from the Pullaming Stock Route to Breeza Hall on Friday afternoon.
At the head of the convoy was Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, who has made public her opposition to the open-cut coal mine planned for a site near Breeza.
Ms Lambie rode alongside a member of Liverpool Plains Youth, a young group of farmers who are fighting the mine.
Also at the protest were Greens Member of the Legislative Council Jeremy Buckingham and prominent Breeza farmers Andrew Pursehouse and winner of the 2015 Brownhill Cup John Hamparsum.
Federal Member for New England Barnaby Joyce did not attend, but sent a message of support.
“To all the farmers of the Liverpool Plains and to all the supporters – I wish you all the very best today,” Mr Joyce said.
“It’s everybody’s right to make sure that they clearly ventilate the issues of concern they have about the Shenhua Mine.
“As you know these are also concerns that I have held for years, and it is vitally important that these concerns are not only heard locally but heard far and wide.”
Mr Joyce said he could not attend because he was attending a meeting of the Indonesian-Australian Partnership on Food Security in the Red Meat and Cattle Sector in Sydney.
“But even this morning I was speaking on national radio voicing your concerns, and I will continue to do that,” he said.
“What we have to remember is that the debate about coal mining is not a binary argument; you don’t have to be either for or against coal mining.
“There are certain places where coal mining is appropriate and certain places where it is not.”
Tractors bore the distinctive “No coal, no CSG” yellow triangles, with others bearing the slogan “Wrong mine, wrong place”.
Gomeroi Elder Dolly Talbott said Indigenous people continued to have concerns about Shenhua’s impact on significant sites, including grinding grooves.
She said Gomeroi people were waiting for a response from federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to a challenge about the decision.
The convoy made its way to Breeza for a barbecue and entertainment after the protest.
