FRACKING (noun): The process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas,” – Oxford Dictionary. Kieran Gair discusses the latest Australian documentary, Frackman (2014), and how it adds fuel to the fire of the already contentious debate.
“I wasn’t born into this kind of thing. I used to cut down trees, drive a diesel four-wheel drive and harvest kangaroos. I’m the worst environmental activist this world’s ever seen,” says Australia’s most unlikely environmental crusader, Dayne Pratzky.
But Dayne is exactly the kind of man the anti Coal Seam Gas movement needs.
Dayne’s documentary Frackman was born soon after a gas company came knocking on his door. They demanded access to Dayne’s land and he was told, in no uncertain terms, that he had no right to refuse them access. And thus his story as Australia’s most rugged accidental activist begins.
Dayne first introduces us to his neighbours and friends. We watch as a local mother pulls out her diary. Unlike most mothers, hers does not document her child’s first day of school, the day they lost their first tooth or spoke their first word. Instead pages are filled with descriptions of unexplained rashes, dizziness, persistent headaches and the horror of nosebleeds so bad that the blood soaked through the children’s bed sheets.
Debbie Orr, a pregnant mother of five, and one of Dayne’s neighbours, says at least 19 families living in an estate near Tara, west of Brisbane, are suffering nose bleeds, sore eyes, nausea, vomiting, rashes and diarrhoea. Dayne and Debbie both remark that the stench of gas is often overwhelming in their hometown of Tara. Debbie rarely allows her children to go outside anymore.
In June 2011 one coal seam gas company operating in a state forest in North-west NSW admitted that 10,000L of untreated coal seam gas water had been spilled. Testing, conducted six months later, of samples taken from near the site of the spill revealed how toxic coal seam gas water can be. The water tests detected heavy metals up to 37 times higher than natural levels and five times higher than the recognised safe standard for drinking. 
Gas companies have dismissed the Frackman film as ‘sensationalised’, yet their words of reassurance have fallen on deaf ears throughout NSW. Independent candidates are being lined up to take on sitting National MPs and currently, it appears that the Nationals may lose their seats of Lismore, Tamworth and Barwon.
Meanwhile, the NSW opposition leader, Luke Foley, has vowed to permanently ban coal seam gas production in the Pilliga Forest in the state’s North-west.
The Baird government have decided to cancel coal seam gas exploration licenses that cover parts of the Central Coast, Sydney Basin and northern NSW. However, the government have delayed informing voters of where coal seam gas development will occur until after the election. The greens are the only political party demanding an all out ban while Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party is calling for a moratorium.
While there is still much ground to cover, fracking would never have gained this much traction if it were not for Dayne Pratsky. On his first trip he did 12 screenings of ‘Frackman’, the largest audience being 128 and the smallest just 16. Yet that did not dampen his resolve. He befriended everyone from Alan Jones to Bob Brown and travelled as far as Washington to speak at Capitol Hill, a far cry from his first speech at the Chinchilla town hall in rural Queensland. Alan Jones tells The Good Weekend, that ‘Dayne is like a lot of ordinary people who have suddenly become victims of this mining invasion, and then suddenly find extraordinary reserves’.
‘And so the pig shooter becomes the passionate activist,’ Jones adds.
It is rare when an issue crosses every conceivable party line and ideological divide. Yet Frackman introduces us to a peculiar alliance of political conservatives, farmers and conservationists. The resolve of Pratsky and the men and women who are fighting for the security of their food and water, the health of their children, their community and their homes, makes for inspiring viewing. And, with the state election coming up this weekend, it is anticipated that many New South Welshman will be going to the polls with one thought in their head: No Fracking Way.
‘Frackman’ (2014) is now playing at Dendy Cinemas. For more information, see here.
