For the Love of the Land

Coal seam gas through the eyes of a QUT Big Lift student

“I don’t think you’re listening. I don’t think anyone is listening.”

Grief can never be simplified to a process. Mourning a loss is more than crying heavy tears that lead to inevitable acceptance. When a life is lost without natural cause or tolerable reason, grief becomes anger.

And that anger cannot be silenced.

The loss of George Bender, a 68-year-old cotton farmer from the Western Downs region of Queensland, has sparked a ripple of reactions throughout the state. Like his family before him, he devoted his life to farming the Chinchilla land sustainably and tenaciously, passing on his knowledge to his wife, four sons and one daughter. His family has stated that he did not suffer from depression or mental health issues: rather, the toll of a ten-year struggle with coal seam gas (CSG) companies led him to take his own life.

Australian farmers face an ongoing battle for rights to their property. George Bender was one of many attempting to stave off the environmental impacts of CSG wells and trying to protect local farmers from coercive government tactics to claim the land. CSG is often described as the “cleanest” fossil fuel, an oxymoron with which many take issue. Mining companies often drill vertical wells into the land to extract the natural gas as an energy source. While corporations are required to secure exploration licenses and then negotiate access with landowners, organisations such as Lock the Gate believe CSG companies are given an elevated position within the law. As a result, landowners can be manipulated by coercive legal tactics that diminish their rights.

George Bender’s daughter, Helen, confronted a panel of politicians and influencers during a special edition of Q&A focussed on rural issues mere days after his passing. Her question grasped the attention and applause of the entire Toowoomba studio audience, and later, viewers nationwide: “When will farmers be given the right to say no to CSG companies coming onto their land?”

The bold question was amplified by the panel’s seeming inability to answer it. Though Helen Bender had spoken, it was undeniable that she felt as though her question went thoroughly unheard. Amid thunderous applause and outcry from the audience, the panel members stumbled their way through answers that dodged the question Ms. Bender fired.

“One of the last things my father said: ‘No one is listening, why are you wasting my time?’ I don’t think the nation is listening, I don’t think any one of you politicians care.”

Such is the power of grief: the transformative anger that can spark a long overdue discussion about the issues impacting regional and rural Australia, unique in both their nature and consequence. Small town communities are known for their resilience but there is only so much community spirit can do in the face of political, economic and environmental turmoil.

The National Rural Mental Health Alliance name numerous stressors country people encounter. A smaller population naturally indicates fewer employment opportunities, unstable income and less financial security. Farmers are almost always self-employed but face greater exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters. In fact, their livelihood can be entirely dependent on the weather conditions of the season.

A November 2014 paper by the Alliance finds that human activities have led to increased climate change and the resulting intensity and variability of weather conditions has direct health impacts for people in rural and remote Australia. Stresses of income loss, property damage or invasion from unwelcome companies are all concerns befalling Australian farmers. The rate of suicide among male farmers has been reported as almost fifty per cent higher than for rural men generally.

In the past, there has been a dangerous trend of policymakers residing in metropolitan areas making industry decisions with no regard for the communities affected. In light of tragedy, Senator Glenn Lazarus immediately urged for a stall in CSG projects until the human impacts could be properly assessed through a royal commission. In New South Wales, the Gloucester Council has begun to speak out against of impacts of AGL’s local coal seam gas project on their community, with Mayor John Rosenbaum directly referring to the loss of George Bender as a reason to consider the “suffering social fabric” of his town.

George Bender’s death leaves a haunting, unanswerable question: given his ongoing and intensive efforts to bring attention to the human impacts of CSG, why did it take the ultimate price to finally ignite a nationwide response? His struggle was never silent; but was anyone ever listening to it?

“In the end, George Bender died from a broken heart,” said the Bender family in a public statement paying tribute to their father. The CSG industry creates division between families and entire communities, but mining is only one of the problems impacting regional towns. For many of us living in urban centres and populated cities, the differences between urban and rural are incomprehensible – and often ignorable. There is an immeasurable gap between city and country; between farmers and office-workers; between Brisbane and the towns that lie mere hours from it.

The life and loss of George Bender is proof that this gap needs to be bridged.

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