It is an approach that has held us in good stead over 50 years as a leading natural gas producer.

For all of the relationships we have with hundreds of landowners in communities throughout Australia, we have never encountered the radical behavior of a small group targeting a landholder, as we have seen at Bunnan.

It is not unusual for groups to aim their opposition at a company and have robust debate about coal seam gas, but it is unprecedented to see a group take aim at local landholders in a very personalised and threatening manner.

Santos is accountable for what we do and we welcome discussion and argument surrounding the facts about our practices.

In Bunnan, the facts are we are planning to drill one temporary core hole, which is 10cm in diameter.

It is used to take samples of each layer of the earth down to the coal seams and then completely backfill it with concrete when finished.

The purpose of the hole is to gather more data to better understand the geological structures in the region, which in turn will give a very preliminary indication of coal seam gas prospects in the region.

No water is used from any local aquifers during this process.

No evaporation ponds are required.

No water is produced.

It is important to note that coal seam gas exploration and production in Australia is very tightly regulated.

In NSW, the industry is closely regulated by the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services.

We understand the landholders’ realistic and pragmatic approach of wanting to know as soon as possible if there is a potential gas resource under their property, so they can plan for the future armed with the facts.

We know the community has questions about the growing coal seam gas industry and we will continue our dialogue with the community.

As a company we respect people’s right to disagree with what we do, but we will stand fast with landowners who are unfairly targeted after making an informed decision to work with us.