Exclusive: ReachTEL poll shows 56.5% of people in state think coalmining has a negative effect, up 9.5 percentage points since 2013

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A shift in opinion in New South Wales has left the majority of residents believing coal does more harm than good, and continuing to think the state government isn’t doing enough to protect farms and water from mining and fracking.



The ReachTEL polling of 1,190 residents in NSW, commissioned by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, shows a switch in opinion on the costs versus the benefits of coalmining, which appears to have occurred over the past three years.

NSW anti-protest laws an attack on democracy, say legal experts Read more

Asked in March this year whether they thought, on balance, coalmining had a positive or negative effect on NSW communities, 56.5% said it had a negative effect. That’s a rise of 9.5 percentage points since 2013, when the conservation group conducted a similar poll.

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales says that is the first time a majority of people have thought NSW coalmining does more harm than good.

While there was a significant shift towards thinking coal does more harm than good, there was also a shift towards stronger views on the topic, with a 5.8 percentage point rise in thinking it’s “very positive” and a bigger 13.8 percentage point rise in thinking it’s “very negative” – and a drop in those thinking it is “somewhat positive” and “somewhat negative”.

The poll also examines whether residents think the premier, Mike Baird, has done enough “to protect New South Wales farmland, water and environment from the impact of coalmining and coal-seam gas fracking”.

A majority of respondents – 62% – said he hasn’t. In 2014, when respondents were asked whether then-premier Barry O’Farrell was doing enough, an even bigger 68% thought he wasn’t.

And asked whether NSW farmland, water and environment needed protecting from coalmining and coal-seam-gas fracking, a huge 84% agreed, an increase of more than 10 percentage points since 2014 when the same question was asked.

The results come shortly after the Baird government introduced legislation removing people’s right to protest coal-seam-gas projects, increasing police powers to break up protests, and increasing fines for damage to mining property. The Nature Conservation Council earlier released polling on that too, showing 61.4% of people oppose those laws.

They also follow other polling last year showing a huge advertising campaign – the “little black rock” campaign with the hashtag #coalisamazing – coincided with an increase in people feeling negative about it.

“Despite two years of government propaganda, policy tweaking, coal sector advertising campaigns, and support from aggressively pro-mining sections of the media, the great majority of people still think Premier Baird has not done enough to protect farmland, water and the environment from coal and CSG,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said.

The group called for coalmining and CSG fracking to be banned in areas including those with productive farmlands and in drinking-water catchments.

“Given the depth of community feeling on this issue, and the harm that coal and CSG projects are doing, we are renewing our calls for no-go zones on productive farmlands, drinking-water catchments, near communities and in special natural areas,” Smolski said.

“Mr Baird has already approved 398 million tonnes of coal extraction, and is considering proposals for a further 727m tonnes,” she said.

“People want this damaging industry brought to heel, but the Baird government is clearing the way for its expansion.”

The 2014 polling was conducted by Lonergan Research between 6 and 13 March, surveying 1,310 NSW residents.

The 2013 polling was conducted by EMC polling between 30 April and 3 May, and surveyed 1,100 people. Both the earlier polls were commissioned by the activist group Land Water Future, which was fighting against CSG in NSW.