Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Nefarious back room deals between dodgy coal companies and a corrupt Minister led to major new coal mining projects in these areas, without any community consultation\", said Lock The Gate spokesperson Steve Phillips. \"Local communities watched in bewilderment as these projects were foisted on them, and then dismay as the O'Farrell Government refused to cancel any mining licences or development applications.\" \"The ICAC inquiry has focussed on a small handful of coal licences, but it has exposed the murky reality of the entire system of coal exploration and development in NSW, \" said Phillips. \"Communities are locked out, back room deals are done, and mining companies get their way. This problem is far more widespread than the examples investigated by ICAC.\"

\"The residents of Fullerton Cove do not want their rural community transformed into an industrial gasfield\", he said. \"They have tried everything to save their community from CSG. They have lobbied local members and Ministers, they have made written submissions, they have tried legal action, and they have staged an inspiring community blockade to keep Dart Energy's drilling rigs out of Fullerton Cove.\" \"Local residents' groups are used to being bullied around by mining companies, but they should not have to put up with the same tactics by the Government that is supposed to protect them\", said [Steve Phillips]. \"We call on the NSW Government to quit acting like hired goons for the mining industry, and join the communities of NSW in their fight to protect land, water, and public health from the resources boom.\"

In an interview, Steve Phillips, CIO, Avnet Inc, talked about information technology. On the importance of information technology (IT) in his industry, and his organization, Phillips said because distribution is a services-based industry, IT plays a critical role. In distribution, it is the programs and services that distinguish a company from its competitors, and IT provides several advantages to Avnet in this area. First, Avnet's IT team enables efficiency through the projects it implements. Secondly, the company differentiates it s business through its supply chain capabilities and services. On the company's strategic IT projects, Phillips said that their IT investments focus on core capabilities that drive Avnet's value proposition to its customers: engagement with its customers, logistics and supply chain management. On the role of IT in the internationalization of his business, Phillips said IT provides the systems backbone that allows them to support their suppliers and customers in a consistent manner around the world.

\"This is a huge win for the community of Bulga, which would have been all but wiped off the map by this coal mine,\" said Steve Phillips, Hunter regional coordinator for Lock The Gate. \"This mine would have had major impacts on air quality and people's health. It would have destroyed an extremely rare and endangered ecosystem, home to 17 threatened native animal species. \"The assessment system for coal mines in NSW is fundamentally flawed, and needs to be overhauled\", continued Phillips. \"We need a system that is actually capable of saying 'no'.\"

\"The documents have been confirmed by constitutional lawyers to be within federal parliament's powers,\" he said. \"Federal parliament could solve the coal and coal seam gas mining crisis tomorrow, they could pass legislation tomorrow that would prohibit coal mining and coal seam gas mining in sensitive environmental areas, in key agricultural areas, in residential areas.\" \"They've done this before with these acts and we're saying the coal and gas mining crisis is every bit as important as other issues that this is used.\"

Premier Barry O'[Farrell] announced this evening that his government would be asking Cascade Coal to resubmit a development application for the Mt Penny Coal Project to the Department of Planning, and that corruption findings from ICAC would be assessed in a \"public interest test\" of the project. The move opens the door for the O'Farrell government to kill off the project. In addition to the Cascade Coal mining proposal at Mt Penny, ICAC is probing the Yarrawa Coal project by Loyal Coal (formerly Monaro Coal), the Doyles Creek project by NuCoal Resources, and the Glendon Brook project, also by Cascade Coal. Two of the projects, Yarrawa and Glendon Brook, are in advanced exploration stages, while the others - Mt Penny in the Bylong Valley and Doyles Creek at Jerrys Plains - have mine development plans awaiting State and Federal Government approval.

The 34 member groups of the Hunter and Central Rivers Alliance are: Australian Coal Alliance; Barrington Gloucester Stroud Preservation Alliance; Black Hill and Buttai Environment Protection Group; Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association; Bylong Valley Protection Alliance; Camberwell Community; Central Coast Community Environment Network; Climate Action Newcastle; Coal Terminal Action Group; Correct Planning and Consultation for Mayfield; Goucester Residents in Partnership; Hunter Communities Network; Hunter Community Environment Centre; Hunter Environment Lobby; Hunter Valley Protection Alliance; Karuah River Protection Group; Lock The Gate; Lower Belford Residents Alliance; Manning Clean Water Action Group; Maryville Community Group; Merriwa Healthy Environment Group; Mountain Districts Association; Mudgee District Environment Group; Our Land, Our Water, Our Future (Central Coast); Reclaim Our Valley (Jerrys Plains); Rising Tide Newcastle; Rivers SOS; Save Bunnan; Save Gloucester; Singleton Shire Health Environment Group; Stockton Community Action Group; The Wilderness Society Newcastle; Throsby Villages Alliance; Wollembi Against Gas Extraction.

In May this year, the Minister received 451 submissions from individuals, groups and organisations on T4. 93% objected to the proposal going ahead. 5% provided comment only, and just 1% supported T4. At a recent forum in Waratah, Department of Planning and Infrastructure officials advised Newcastle community groups that their submissions would only be assessed by Port Waratah Coal Services, the proponent for T4. \"It's normal for submissions on major infrastructure projects to be carefully assessed by the Department. Their assessment of the proposed Tillegra dam, for instance, involved commissioning four independent reports,\" said Mr [Steve Phillips].

\"Close to 500 hundred submissions were made to the Planning Department, with over 93% objecting to the T4 proposal, citing strong concerns around health, increased coal dust, impacts to internationally listed wetlands, increased trains, inappropriate mining expansion and climate change impacts. Only 1% of submissions supported the T4 proposal,\" said Steve Phillips, spokesperson for the HCEC. \"Farmers and environmentalisists in the Gunnedah Basin will celebrate the T4 delay. They are trying to stop massive new coal mines in areas like Maules Creek, that would destroy remnant bushland, consume agricultural land, and break up communities. If T4 is approved, it would result in the equivalent of 15 large new coal mines in the Hunter and Gunnedah regions.\"