Farriers, trainers, broodmare farms, veterinarians equine transport companies and thoroughbred auction houses, joined with industry leaders Coolmore and Godolphin, the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association, local business owners, economists, scientists, engineers, environmental advocates and indigenous elders to speak out against the Drayton South open cut mine proposal.
Peter O'Brien, Managing Director of Segenhoe, told the PAC "I would like to be a voice not only for Segenhoe, but for all 150 other boarding and agisting farms in the Hunter… Our cluster is entirely centred around stallion farms and it is quite simple – no stallions, no Segenhoe, or for that matter, no satellite farms whatsoever."
Charles Jennings, Chairman Golder's Horse Transport, compared the Hunter's Equine Critical Industry Cluster to Silicon Valley and the departure of Coolmore and Darley as "catastrophic for the health of the equine cluster as would Google or Apple leaving Silicon Valley."
Dr Angus Adkins, Director Scone Equine Hospital talked of the "unique situation for a veterinary practice and totally dependent on a healthy thoroughbred industry in the region." He said.
Coolmore Australia's chairman Ken Barry and Godolphin's Managing Director Henry Plumptre summed up the threat of this mine to the entire Hunter Valley equine cluster.
Mr Barry told the PAC "There has never been a threat that comes close to the threat of Drayton South. Not Equine Influenza, not drought, not the floods of 2007, not fire, not the global financial crisis …"
Mr Henry Plumptre posed the question "If a mine approval can be allowed next to the two largest studs, which underpin the entire Equine Critical Industry Cluster, what hope is there for the future of the rest of the Equine CIC in the Upper Hunter?"
The overwhelming evidence presented to the PAC by local businesses, scientific experts and Indigenous elders is that a mine on this site is unacceptable, should not be approved and the industry and community should be protected.
HTBA Release
