On Saturday, 7th March, Richard Denniss joined Alan Jones and Peter Martin in speaking at a rally of more than 1200 people at Bowral, NSW. The crowd were gathered to show their concern over consequences of coal mining operations proposed in the Southern Highlands.

The Southern Highlands Coal Action Group organised the ‘Water not Coal’ rally which called for definitive answers from both Hume Coal and the NSW Government. Hume Coal is a mining company which has been exploring the possibility of mining in the Highlands.

Richard again attacked the dodgy modelling and warned of false job number claims often made to justify resources projects:

"They tell us that mining creates jobs, and miners spend money in the local community. Is that compared to nurses, who flush their money down the toilet or teachers, who bury their money in the backyard?" he said.

Event organiser, Peter Martin said:

"We're not an isolated group of extremists or hobby farmers who are against this, we're a whole group of people - younger people, older people, Greens, Labor and Liberals. The fact that there's more than 1000 people here today makes a mockery of the claims that it's just a handful of people with concerns."

2GB Presenter, Alan Jones, described the expanding coal industry a "vandalistic movement."

Concerns about coal