Commodification of country : an Australian case study in community resistance to mining

This chapter examines the resistance to Coal Seam Gas (CSG) mining on Gamilaraay Gomeroi country in northwest New South Wales. The field research findings are set in the context of contemporary neoliberal governance and its foundations in classical liberal democratic theory. The Pilliga campaign is multilayered and diverse, however, a shared drive is the risk of catastrophic and irreversible damage to the Great Artesian Basin that lies beneath 22 per cent of the Australian continent. There are campaigns to ban fracking, stop coal mining, and shift to renewables around Australia and world. The Pilliga campaign was instigated by Gomeroi people, sometimes identified as 'traditional owners' in Australia, and most such movements state a commitment to First Peoples' rights. Like the Pilliga, the Standing Rock campaign against the Dakota Access Pipe Line (No DAPL) is Indigenous-led, by people of the greater Sioux First Nation. The No DAPL campaign has gained huge momentum and is an international rallying cry for Indigenous rights and climate change activism. Both Standing Rock and the Pilliga Push are emblematic of ongoing Indigenous resistance to colonial settler states and shared environmental values. The unifying theme is water is life and shared identity is as protectors.