File:Mehreen Faruqi 2015.jpg

English: Bulga residents together with Wonnarua traditional custodians journeyed to Sydney to rally outside Premier Mike Baird's office and deliver the "Bulga Declaration" signed by more than 2000 people.

The Bulga community, alongside the Wonnarua traditional custodians, have been fighting for over five years to stop a massive coal mine expansion by Rio Tinto that will obliterate their town and countryside.

Both the Land and Environment Court, and the NSW Supreme Court (Court of Appeal), rejected Rio Tinto’s plans but in mid 2014 Rio Tinto resubmitted for approval an almost identical project to that already rejected by the courts.

Earlier, the NSW government joined Rio Tinto in its appeal and changed mining regulations to sidestep the Land & Environment Court’s judgment. As a result, the economic significance of a coal resource is now the principal consideration for mining development approvals, above impacts on water, biodiversity, amenity and other land uses.

On 5 March 2015 the Planning and Assessment Commission found the application to extend the coal mine was “capable of being approved”, despite having been knocked back twice already in court. One of its suggestions was that the town of Bulga be moved.

As a result of new laws, the Bulga community no longer has appeal rights to the Land and Environment Court on the merits of the decision - a right ICAC recommends to prevent corruption.

The community now awaits a final Planning and Assessment Commission decision.

If the expansion goes ahead it will create severe noise and dust impacts for residents, destroy a critically endangered woodland and impact on 110 registered Aboriginal cultural sites.