Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends rallied outside the offices of the Independent Planning Commission on August 6 before marching to the back of NSW Parliament to show their opposition to the Santos Narrabri Coal Seam Gas (CSG) project in the Pilliga forest in north-west New South Wales.
Later in the day, a debate over the CSG project took place inside triggered by the lodgement of an 11,000-strong petition in March.
Outside the IPC, spokesperson Marie Flood reminded the group about the “wheelbarrow load” of petitions, which had been lodged to MPs before the COVID-19 lockdown. Debate on the petition had to be delayed.
She explained that the IPC had previously rejected plans for two coal mines in NSW, at Rocky Hill and Bylong. Then, the commission had faced criticism from the Minerals Council and the Murdoch media. It is important that the strong public opposition to the Santos CSG project in the Pilliga be fully expressed to the IPC right now, Flood said.
Greens MPs David Shoebridge and Cate Faehrman, ALP MP Trish Doyle, Independent MP Justin Field and Animal Justice Party MP Mark Pearson expressed their support for the camapign to end CSG in the Sydney Domain.
[An online forum on fighting Santos' push for gas in the north-west of NSW will be held on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM.]