IN the township of White Cliffs, Peter Crawford is fighting for his life.
He is set to lose everything he has - again - after living through two catastrophic bushfires, but this time not at the hands of God or nature.
Along with all the other opal miners in White Cliffs, and Lightning Ridge, the NSW Department of Mining, Exploration and Geoscience has put Mr Crawford's livelihood on hold. Described by NSW Minister for Natural Resources, Courtney Houssos, as an administrative error, it is a gargantuan one.
Ongoing since 2015, it has ended with a departmental directive for 858 miners to stop work, due to the 3343 mining claims granted between January 1, 2015, and February 2023, which are, in fact, invalid.
Which means, just based on that one error to which the department has admitted, it has been out of its depth in relation to policing opal mining for the best part of at least eight years. On top of that, however, miners and their associates, lawyers, and the department's own staff say variously that the department does not know who is doing what out there.
As far as Mr Crawford is concerned, he had a licence, that he applied and paid for and, as far as he can ascertain, was granted - on paper, and on a handshake, and the say-so of an authorised mine safety officer.
It is now alleged the same mine safety officer lied in court against Mr Crawford, allegedly telling a magistrate that he had 'no authorisation' in relation to giving Mr Crawford permission to mine or not.
On that evidence, at least in part, Mr Crawford was fined $2500. It is now a question of law, and to fight it, he has to raise enough cash to get a lawyer.
In a different test, where the onus of proof is a little lower and the cost is far less - the pub test - it most definitely fails.
But someone in the Maitland office decided to pursue him and others - but one other in particular on that same day - to the full extent of the law.
And, according to departmental insiders, the government has spent somewhere in the vicinity of $200,000 to do it, landing Mr Crawford with a legal bill of $32,000 and the second man convicted that day with a legal bill of $60,000.
The department says, through a spokesperson, that it "takes compliance with mining legislation seriously".
"The Department takes its obligations as a model litigant and prosecutor seriously and discloses relevant material in accordance with the law."
What happened when David Muxlow's report hit senior staff's desks on August 26, 2022?
Was it open to the department to put it to the magistrate? How come Mr Crawford knew nothing about it until the day he was sentenced?
Has the department investigated the perjury allegation? Any disciplinary action taken? If not, why not?
What the department says, is: "Questions about specific internal investigations and actions are subject to confidentiality obligations as well as the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act and the Department will not be commenting further."
This in a state and a region with a troubled history of tumultuous mining-related corruption inquiries.
