60 Minutes

Keep Out!:What would you do if someone walked into your backyard, dug a big hole and put a fence around it with a sign saying ‘No Trespassing'? In all likelihood you'd shout and scream and call the police. But what if when the police came they threatened to arrest you, not those who wrecked your property and locked you out? In many parts of rural Australia this is the outrageous scenario now playing out between farmers and big gas companies, whose relentless – often ruthless – quest for new sources of gas seems to have no limits. In a special 60 MINUTES investigation, Michael Usher reveals evidence showing the high-pressure, secret tactics used by some gas companies which are driving hard-working country folk from their land. Queensland farmer Kane Booth used to have a multi-million-dollar cattle business until three coal seam gas wells were drilled on his property. He says the wells affected the water supply on his land, rendering it useless for fattening his cattle. He's now been forced to abandon the property and sell off his herd. Not surprisingly, Kane and his young family are devastated, but have vowed to fight on. However, a similar battle on a neighbouring property has had a tragic outcome. George Bender fought a coal seam gas company for years, blaming it for polluting his property. But it turned out to be a battle of attrition he was never going to win.

Top Price: You have to marvel in awe and wince in pain at Toby Price's commitment to being the best off-road motorcycle racer in the world. At last count, the 28-year-old daredevil from the Hunter Valley had racked up 27 broken bones. His worst riding injury three years ago fractured vertebrae in his neck, which left him perilously close to becoming a quadriplegic. His mum, Pauline, and dad, John, might disagree, but Toby reckons the rewards of hurtling through the desert at breakneck speeds justify the risks. In January this year he became the first Australian to win the Dakar Rally in South America, the most prestigious and gruelling off-road race in the world. And last week he was at it again, winning the Finke Desert race in outback Australia, for an amazing fifth time.