News that the coal industry has paid spies to infiltrate peaceful coal protests at Maules Creek is just the latest example, in a long list, of unethical behaviour and poor community relations that have become the hallmark of the coal industry.

We've had it all; powerful National Party lobbyists, illegal political donations, allegations of false and misleading information, and now corporate spies.

My mother, who is in her late 70s and has attended parish services all her life, was prevented from going to her local church on Good Friday by police road blocks, purportedly put in place to stop coal protestors accessing the Maules Creek site.

Why she could not be waved through to attend a religious service is beyond me and many others who live under siege from coalmining interests hell bent on flattening a forest to put in a mine.

The local community has indicated its concerns and desire to protect the Leard Forest and surrounding farmland from inappropriate mining, but our voices have been lost in the clamour of bulldozers and the ring of the mining company’s cash registers. Even our right to challenge the merits of the coalmine in court was taken from us.