Miners will stop at nothing.

I see Santos has been forced to withdraw a television ad promoting coal seam gas mining because the ad was misleading.

The ad claims, falsely, that “agriculture and CSG do co-exist”.

It then goes on to film Liverpool Plains farmland, without permission, where no coal seam gas mining is yet occurring - implying that coal seam gas mining is underway on that land without causing any problems.

The advertisement features a bloke called Warwick Moppett walking over other people’s land in a proprietorial fashion, as if he was the farmer who owned the land, singing the praises of Santos.

Moppett is, in fact, a consultant to Santos.

Local cotton growers Trish and Ben Kelly were shocked to see Moppett handling their cotton bales in the advertisement as if they were his.

“They’re our cotton bales, not his as implied in the ad” Trish Kelly said One farmer is considering legal against Santos for trespassOthers have complained to the ACCC.

Santos has not apologized for the phoney advertisement – part of an advertising blitz launched last month to promote coal seam gas mining.

It says, simply, that it will no longer broadcast the ad in its current form.

The company wants to spend $500 million exploring for coal seam gas in the Liverpool Plains.

These miners will stop at nothing to get their way.

When will someone in Government stand up for the farmer?