October 22, 2015
Vigils were held across three states on Thursday to honour a Chinchilla farmer who took his own life after a lengthy crusade against the coal seam gas industry.
The gatherings took place in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide following the death of Hopeland cotton farmer George Bender last week.
Another will be held in Kingaroy next Wednesday, October 28.
Drew Hutton, a spokesman for Lock the Gate Alliance, said Mr Bender, whose bore water had been impacted by CSG activities, had shown extraordinary courage in his bid to defend his community.
He said the vigils were being held to honour Mr Bender “and to say never again”.
“Never again should CSG companies be allowed to coerce and intimidate farmers and to drag them through the courts,” Mr Hutton said in a statement.
“Never again should communities be left with nowhere to turn when their dealings with gas companies become unbearable.”
The Lock the Gate Alliance has written to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk outlining their eight point “CSG crisis action plan” which they say will reduce suffering caused by the CSG industry.
Mr Bender’s death has also sparked calls for an inquiry into the human impacts of CSG, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
The Brisbane vigil was held outside the Premier’s office. Others took place at Origin Energy offices in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Yesterday, protesters also picketed Origin Energy’s Annual General Meeting in Sydney.
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The Kingaroy vigil will be held at Memorial Park in Haly Street, Kingaroy next Wednesday between noon and 12:30pm.
Organiser Sandy Towell said the vigil was being held to remember and honour a good man who just happened to be a passionate farmer and advocate for rural Queensland, but whose hope was stripped from him.
“For the past 10 years George Bender had been fighting to preserve his family farm and heritage while the government seemed intent on supporting these industries to the detriment of the people,” Sandy said.
“George’s family says his heart broke watching the impact of CSG on his land, business and community. He did everything in his power to protect what he loved but was constantly blocked by bureaucratic decisions that took away the rights of farmers to their own land and businesses.
“After everything farmers already deal with – commodity prices, drought, bank foreclosures etc – having to fight both mining companies and government decisions on their own is just too much.
“If we continue to sit idly by, we will lose many more farmers in this fight and the final victims will be Australia and our kids’ heritage.”
Sandy can be contacted by phoning 0423-830-224.
Support is available for anyone who may be distressed by calling Lifeline 13-11-14, Mensline 1300-789-978 or Kids Helpline 1800-551-800.
May I respectfully say that all the vigils, all over the country, to honour George Bender are not – have not – been anti-csg events.
Whilst CSG (and also UCG) was a factor in the stress that may have been the final straw for George, it is in no way the reason for these vigils. They are – and will be – about respecting a farmer who fought long and hard to keep his land from harm, about honouring his memory, and to remind everyone that we value farmers, farmland, and the work that farmers do for us.
In this case George was not only under impact from CSG (in that he had already lost 2 important water supply wells and was still fighting for the make good clause to be honoured a year or more on) he was also impacted by the UCG operations right beside his farm – operations that are now in court with the Qld Government vs Linc Energy. The SB region has also been impacted by the same type of UCG operation in the past, so readers should have some understanding and indeed sympathy for his position there.
These vigils, as well as being about honour, respect and sadness of course, highlight the plight of farmers who are in battles all over our country as we speak – they battle drought, banks, government, mining operations, and other day to day stresses that would wear most of us down just thinking about it.
We MUST honour our farmers. They feed and clothe us.
But most of all, we must never trivialise their contribution. This country would grind to a holt without them.
I agree with Marianne Irvine that this vigil is NOT and anti-csg event. I initiated this event to honour the memory of George Bender and to stand up and say ‘enough is enough’. It is time we all showed support for the farmers of this country who battle constantly to feed and clothe us. If we don’t support them, where will we be in the not-too-distant future? This vigil will honour George and all those farmers here in the South Burnett and across the country who must sometimes feel they are totally on their own. Forget the politics, respect the people.
Sandy: May I quote from your own publication, “Country Focus” in your promotion of this event …
“Last week Australia lost a farmer who could no longer cope with the bullying and pressure from the Underground Coal Gasification and the Coal Seam Gas industries.
For the past 10 years George Bender has been fighting to preserve his family farm and heritage while the government seems intent on supporting these industries to the detriment of the people.
George’s family says that his heart broke watching the impact on his land, business and his community. He did everything in his power to protect what he loved but was constantly blocked by bureaucratic decisions that took away the rights of farmers to their own land and businesses.
After everything that farmers already deal with – commodity prices, drought, bank foreclosures etc – having to fight both mining companies and government decisions on their own is just too much. If we continue to sit idly by, we will lose many more farmers in this fight and the final victims will be Australia and our kids’ heritage.”
I note that our first critic, Marianne Irvine, has on her Facebook page: “We all need to ring the Premier – she needs to hear that CSG needs reforming ASAP and that George must not have died in vain – please call – the number is (07) 3719 7000. Thanks!” and a video from Channel 10 news highlighted with the image: “George Bender: We oppose CSG In Your Memory”.
Personally, I find it distasteful that the death of this farmer is being abused for blatant political purposes. Forget the politics, respect the people.
Did you actually even read the flyer inviting people to this memorial Anne? Do the words #EnoughIsEnough and #NeverAgain mean nothing to you during mental health awareness month. The anguish this farmer has been put through obviously means nothing to you other than a political shit fight that can be used for the benefit of others. Such a sad outlook on things you now have considering when I first met you. I still wonder what happened to cause such a change.
Grant – We were asked by Sandy Towell to help promote this event and we used the same words that her own publication used. I don’t want to be involved in an online fight with anyone over rural suicides, it is too important a subject to be trivialised like this. I wish you and Sandy all the best for your event.
The way the Lock The Gate has pounced on George Bender’s tragic death to try to advance their anti-CSG agenda is despicable and so is the hypocrisy of trying to pretend these “vigils” are all about supporting farmers.
There are farmers in the South and North Burnett who’ve committed suicide in the last few years because of droughts, floods and depression. Was a vigil ever held for any of them?
Stop pretending this isn’t a political campaign. It’s about attacking CSG mining but if Lock The Gate can’t do that honestly, trying to do it under a fake pretext of genuinely caring for our farmers says a lot about them and none of it is good.
I am so sorry that the message that I intended when organising this event is being lost in the whole political debate here about CSG & UCG. When I heard of George’s suicide, I was devastated that yet another farmer has taken his own life – whatever the stressor. For many years now I have worked passionately to try to reduce the rate of suicide in the South Burnett particularly among farmers and saw this as an opportunity to say ‘let’s come together to show our support not only for George and his family but for all the farmers doing it tough.’ Yes, there will be people who use this to voice their disapproval of mining farmland but we cannot lose sight of the fact that farmers face a huge range of stressors and need people to show that they value what farmers do for us. I personally organised this particular event, no-one else and I truly hope that people will use it for its intended purpose – to stand up and say enough is enough! No more farming suicides for whatever the reason.