By Tania Phillips
Stanthorpe farmers will take centre-stage on episode three of the TV series Planet A: Our Climate Challenge #Fight For PlanetA, screening on the ABC on Tuesday, 24 August from 8.30pm
The program, hosted by War On Waste presenter Craig Reucassel, was filmed around Australia late last year including a trip to Stanthorpe to talk with farmers and locals affected by the drought.
The crew spent several hours talking to farmers and volunteers at the water charity Granite Belt Water Relief’s depot. The charity which has given out 10million litres of water in 11 months and still has 500 people on it’s books has been the brainchild of local truck driver Russell Wantling and his wife (SFT employee) Samantha.
Sam said it was a thrill to meet Reucassel but more than that it seemed important to get the story of the region’s farmers and rural population’s plight out the rest of the country.
“It was filmed in early November,” she said.
“When Stanthorpe was running out of water my husband started a water charity so we were busy handing out drinking water and stock water to people in rural Granite Belt who had no access to either. “As a result they were bathing every couple of days, cutting back to one cup of tea every second day – it was that dire. Obviously, someone from the production company had heard about the plight of the Granite Belt – looked into it and found out what we were doing and made contact with us.
“We didn’t know much about it when contacted but I knew Craig, I’d seen the documentary War of Waste and I was a fan based just on that so it was a bit exciting to think they were coming up and taking and interest in our region and what was happening here.”
She said at the time of filming she was unsure of how the plight of the Granite Belt would fit into the show and she was looking forward to finally seeing the finished product.
In the three-part series Reucassel looks at where energy comes from, how transport and travel emissions affect health and just what is the carbon footprint of the things we eat? The program aims to entertain, inform and challenge while showcasing how people as individuals, families, schools and businesses can help reduce our carbon footprint by making practical day-to-day changes.
Sam joked she was only partly looking forward to it going to air –“They say the camera adds ten pounds,” she quipped.
“I think a lot of people they spoke to – at our water shed for a start – let alone some of the growers in the region – I think they had a lot of things to say,” she said.
“Working with Craig was a highlight but I think he was a bit taken back – he said at the end of it he didn’t expect to hear what he heard. When they arrived he just asked where we wanted him, I said just walk around and talk to people as they pull up to get their water – most of these people have been coming to us for a couple of months. They are quite used to seeing media here – they’ll talk to you. And a lot of them recognized him and opened up him. At the end he said he didn’t know it was like this – I really didn’t and that wasn’t the journo in him, it really hit him quite hard that these people are just your normal everyday people and they’re wondering how they are going to give their kids a bath tonight – that’s not something you should ever have to consider.”
Sam said while there had been a some steady rain in recent months with a possible long-hot summer aheady, the charity was continuing to operate. She hoped that with continued rains they would not get anywhere near the demand of last year.
