Nicole 'No coal' Kidman's stand

The anti-coal mining sign posted on the gates of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $6.5 million Southern Highlands mansion. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have joined the anti-coal mining movement. Picture: Jason Kempin Source: The Sunday Telegraph

NICOLE Kidman and Keith Urban have joined the growing anti-coal mining movement, hanging a $20 placard on the gates of their $6.5 million Southern Highlands country retreat.

The sign, bought by the couple last month from a protest stall set up at the Moss Vale Farmers Market, expresses their feelings: "No Coal or Coal Seam Gas".

The celebrity couple's involvement has been welcomed by the estimated 400 landholders in the Southern Highlands who are campaigning against plans to expand coal and gas mining operations in the leafy district.

The star couple, who jetted into Sydney on Friday, join a growing list of high-profile property owners calling on the state government to ban coal mining on land of high agricultural value and near homes.

2GB talk show host Alan Jones, who has a farm in the Southern Highlands, has lent his powerful voice to the campaign, citing concerns about the health impacts of mining activities so close to residential townships.

Comedians Jean Kitson and Anthony Ackroyd have also weighed in with the pair to feature in a YouTube clip to lampoon the mining industry.

The Southern Highlands Coal Action Group convenor Peter Martin, a former chief executive for Rothschild Australia Asset Management, said Kidman and Urban had spoken about their concerns of the prop! osed min ing activity in the area to volunteers manning an anti-coal mining stall last month.

"We sold them the sign for $20 when they visited the Moss Vale Farmers Market one Saturday morning on their last visit here," he said.

Kidman and Urban, who bought the 1878 Georgian mansion "Bunya Hill" in Suttons Forest in 2008, have never spoken publicly about their concerns.

Mr Martin said more than 460 properties in the area sat on top of coal-seam gas and coal mining leases.

Hume Coal, a joint venture between Korean steel-making giant POSCO and Cockatoo Coal, holds a 115sq km exploration permit granted in 1967 and began the first stage of the exploration process last May.

Other mining leases are held by Planet Gas, Leichhardt Resources and AGL, which collectively cover over 3000sq km of land.

The state government this month imposed tighter controls on mining and coal-seam gas drilling on or near high-value agricultural land, with applications to mine having to first gain the approval of an independent expert panel.

But landholders say the rules do not go far enough and want mining to be banned altogether on high-value land.