Tucked away in a little valley at the edge of the Liverpool Plains is a quiet little farming community that, until recently, was relatively unheard of. Maules Creek has a population of less than 100 people, some of them farmers who have cropped and grazed its fertile soils for generations.

Next to Maules Creek is the Leard State Forest, the largest remaining forest on the plains. It is home to a rich biodiversity of birds, bats and koalas and includes the beautiful, critically endangered box-gum woodland.

Maules Creek also sits on top of vast quantities of black coal, that are driving the destruction of a once cohesive community, a forest full of the stories, culture and sites of the Gomeroi people, and are undermining some of the most productive agricultural land in the state.

Having grown up in Newcastle my entire life, I thought I'd seen it all. Gaping holes have been opening up in our valley at an alarming pace and thriving regional communities have disappeared from the map. In a final insult, as the community disappears, the mining company steals their name.



But for all that, I was still shocked on my first trip up to Maules Creek two years ago. As I wandered down country roads, momentarily lost, I saw bulldozers hard at work pulverising endangered forest to make way for an open pit. Many of the farmhouses were empty, and as I met the few locals still holding firm, it was the clear this mine had already extracted a terrible toll.



The chairman of the mining company – former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile – used to lead the political party the locals had trusted to represent farming interests. He had been brought into the coal game by none other than Nathan Tinkler. The relationship between coal interests and politicians in New South Wales crosses the political divide and has already brought down a government, a premier and a slew of ministers.

Despite the ongoing political revelations emerging from Icac, laws such as the new state environment planning policy (SEPP) and the handover of federal environmental powers to the states are still being brought in. They will strip communities of their rights to challenge mine proposals and water down environmental regulations.

Several hundred kilometres of rail line connects Maules Creek with my hometown of Newcastle, the largest coal port in the world. In just five years the volume of coal being railed through our suburbs and shipped to foreign shores has almost doubled. All of this at a time when there is a growing recognition that we need to leave 80% of the world's coal in the ground. It is a terrible moment in history for us to tie our economic future to a fuel from which other countries are shifting away.



Today I was sentenced – to one year and eight months, suspended with the condition of good behaviour for two years and released immediately on a $1,000 surety – for having mocked up a press release claiming that the ANZ Bank was no longer going to invest their customers’ money in the Maules Creek mine. Of course, ANZ was doing no such thing, and that's the point. My aim was simply to highlight that fact.

Hoax press releases are nothing new, and taking the piss with a purpose is part of a long tradition of creative mischief. What came as a shock, to me more than anybody else, was the panic caused on the trading room floor by my bluff – a bluff that had Asic tapping on my tent flap two days later.



For the record, I was not trying to crash the market. I was trying to highlight the fact that ANZ are funding the biggest open cut coal mine currently being constructed in Australia. Today I bear the consequences of that decision.

But rural communities across the eastern states who are living with mine proposals hanging over their heads have never done anything to deserve their fate. Think of people in Bangladesh and Pacific Island nations who are bearing the brunt of both poverty and the effects of climate change. Think of generations yet to be born who, depending on the choices we make today, will pay for our obsession for fast money by suffering through rising tides, extreme weather and crop failures.

This is not an unmitigated disaster. The battle to save Maules Creek has brought together one of the most extraordinarily diverse movements of our time: graziers standing with Gomeroi custodians, wildlife geeks, clergy, parents and grandparents concerned about the future.



Of course, Whitehaven Coal has the backing of government and claims to be undeterred by regular stop-work actions on site. For our part, we are not about to lose our determination either, not when the stakes are so high.



Nobody knows what the outcome of the Maules Creek campaign will be. But when our politicians continue to break their election promises and cosy up to coal interests, our eclectic mix of citizens – men and women willing to engage in civil disobedience – are the best hope we have for the future. Imagine what you will say in 40 years time when you are asked if you were there.



There is a growing list of financial institutions like the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and even Deutsche Bank, who are limiting their exposure to coal or giving their customers the option of not profiting from fossil fuels. However, the biggest investor in coal in Australia, the ANZ Bank, continues to be relaxed about their exposure to fossil fuels. I believe the day will come when even laggard banks such as the ANZ will have to choose between coal and their reputation.



My sentence today reflects the need for investors to be fully and correctly informed in order for the share market to work. We need total transparency for financial markets to work effectively – that's what continuous disclosure is all about. Ultimately, they should also be fully informed about the environmental impact of their investments in order for the planet to work, because it's the only home we have.

