https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B21_coIgIYu2a2Y5bjFtamV4aE0/edit
Extract from the High Court Decision, it is very interesting and well worth reading. Just click the link above or HERE
Showing posts with label Lock the Gate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lock the Gate. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Metgasco's License Suspension BENTLEY BLOCKADE CHEERS HEARD ACROSS THE LAND!
METGASCO LICENSE SUSPENDED... The news is ringing out all over the land today. There are so many newspaper reports I was struggling to read each one in full.
Below is a link to Ian Gaillard speaking to ABC Radio regarding the events that have culminated in such action being taken.
http://www.gasfieldfreebyronshire.org/news/bentley/abc-nc-radio-ian-gaillard-0920-155/
Democracy has erupted and has been heard loud and clear and many know its much more than these companies and the government allude to. The truth is the 10,000 force of people scared the living daylights out of them we are all sure of this fact. Number one it is a fact - the people were ready.
I believe if the license is not cancelled that there will be civil disobedience of some sort of degree as the farmers have already promised because the people are at this point where they know they are being taken for the biggest ride of their lives. Trusting government is a mistake.
In a brief statement, NSW Police Media says: "A planned NSW Police
Force operation to protect public safety at a proposed gas drilling site
near Lismore has been cancelled."
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
 |
| Ian Henderson's Truck |
http://www.gasfieldfreebyronshire.org/news/bentley/abc-nc-radio-ian-gaillard-0920-155/
Democracy has erupted and has been heard loud and clear and many know its much more than these companies and the government allude to. The truth is the 10,000 force of people scared the living daylights out of them we are all sure of this fact. Number one it is a fact - the people were ready.
I believe if the license is not cancelled that there will be civil disobedience of some sort of degree as the farmers have already promised because the people are at this point where they know they are being taken for the biggest ride of their lives. Trusting government is a mistake.
 |
| Bentley Blockade NNSW |
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
Friday, April 26, 2013
Coal Seam Gas in Australia
Coal seam gas extraction is fairly new in Australia It has been mined in the United States for a number of years evidenced in Josh Foxes film Gaslands.
Csg mining involves releasing gas from coal seams deep under the ground. If the gas does not come up easily for extraction it is injected with high pressurized water and chemicals straight into the coal seams to shake the gas free.
CSG mining processes extract masses of water and this water is known as used water and it is radioactive and salty.
CSG mining is unconventional gas extraction. Shale gas offers another avenue of gas supply.
Here is Australia Csg Mining has exploded for want of a better description.
Australia has experienced growth never before seen since gold rush days in the area of CSG mining. There are exploration and production licences covering much of the continent.
Figures show that in the five years leading up to 2008, Csg production in Australia increased by 32 per cent a year
One of the major and most serious risks of Csg mining is the contamination of the surface water and and the deep groundwaters in the various artesian basins located under Australia. Csg mining has been linked to issues that have been associated with the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world, covering about 22 per cent of Australia’s land mass.
Another serious risk is Earthquake frequencies and there is some evidence from monitoring radon as it could reveal whether coal seam gas extraction is messing with the soil’s structure.
Jeremy Buckingham
Two recent peer reviewed studies on opposite sides of the globe have shed light on how monitoring of earthquakes and determining greenhouse gas emissions from the coal seam gas (CSG) industry may be connected.
Predicting earthquakes has been a major scientific challenge, and so far considered impossible. In a recent case, Italian scientists were jailed for underplaying the likelihood of a major earthquake with the case sending shockwaves through the scientific community.
Not much is known about the chemicals these drilling companies use and just how much of the chemical mixtures that are used during the mining process. These are secretive and known as proprietary chemicals (don't have to be divulged - ie Colonel Sanders KFC)
While they keep all this secret it is hard to measure the impacts on health and the ecocide to the environment.
It is known that a number of the chemicals typically used in CSG extraction have been associated with hormonal disruption, fertility and reproductive effects, and the development of some cancers.
While some evidence exists from US operations of environmental contamination, there is relatively limited evidence so far regarding the actual health effects of CSG in Australia according to certain health practitioners. This is because there were no baseline studied down on health and the environment. The studies that were done were all funded by mining companies and it is clear that this is corruption on all levels. This is highly unethical because they are siding with large mining companies
In 2012, an inquiry completed by the NSW parliamentary committee who looked into the environmental, economic and social impacts of CSG activities.
With reguards to health the health impacts, the inquiry concluded:
Environmental groups, such as Lock the Gate Alliance Inc, are fiercely opposed to CSG reduction. Their opposition is based on possible harm to the environment, even though their assessment may lack scientific backup. They believe that even the possibility of environmental damage is sufficient grounds to restrict CSG production.
I don't share that ideology as I want to see it completely banned in all countries. It is banned in a few countries but I am holding on for this decision in Australia.
Communities, farming areas, and tourist sites near CSG production
sites are concerned about the damage to their land and their farming income and the value of their properties. Properties in the vicinity of a mine are worthless now. The people are concerned in the country because they moved there for a sea change and are now confronted with this nightmare that runs 24/7 under flood lights with no respite from the noise.
More information re the pros and cons to this industry can be found here.
http://harounkola.com/coal-seam-gas-controversy-in-australia-explained/
Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr
Csg mining involves releasing gas from coal seams deep under the ground. If the gas does not come up easily for extraction it is injected with high pressurized water and chemicals straight into the coal seams to shake the gas free.
CSG mining processes extract masses of water and this water is known as used water and it is radioactive and salty.
CSG mining is unconventional gas extraction. Shale gas offers another avenue of gas supply.
Here is Australia Csg Mining has exploded for want of a better description.
Australia has experienced growth never before seen since gold rush days in the area of CSG mining. There are exploration and production licences covering much of the continent.
Figures show that in the five years leading up to 2008, Csg production in Australia increased by 32 per cent a year
One of the major and most serious risks of Csg mining is the contamination of the surface water and and the deep groundwaters in the various artesian basins located under Australia. Csg mining has been linked to issues that have been associated with the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world, covering about 22 per cent of Australia’s land mass.
Another serious risk is Earthquake frequencies and there is some evidence from monitoring radon as it could reveal whether coal seam gas extraction is messing with the soil’s structure.
Jeremy Buckingham
Two recent peer reviewed studies on opposite sides of the globe have shed light on how monitoring of earthquakes and determining greenhouse gas emissions from the coal seam gas (CSG) industry may be connected.
Predicting earthquakes has been a major scientific challenge, and so far considered impossible. In a recent case, Italian scientists were jailed for underplaying the likelihood of a major earthquake with the case sending shockwaves through the scientific community.
Not much is known about the chemicals these drilling companies use and just how much of the chemical mixtures that are used during the mining process. These are secretive and known as proprietary chemicals (don't have to be divulged - ie Colonel Sanders KFC)
While they keep all this secret it is hard to measure the impacts on health and the ecocide to the environment.
It is known that a number of the chemicals typically used in CSG extraction have been associated with hormonal disruption, fertility and reproductive effects, and the development of some cancers.
While some evidence exists from US operations of environmental contamination, there is relatively limited evidence so far regarding the actual health effects of CSG in Australia according to certain health practitioners. This is because there were no baseline studied down on health and the environment. The studies that were done were all funded by mining companies and it is clear that this is corruption on all levels. This is highly unethical because they are siding with large mining companies
In 2012, an inquiry completed by the NSW parliamentary committee who looked into the environmental, economic and social impacts of CSG activities.
With reguards to health the health impacts, the inquiry concluded:
- The federal government can only step in where there is serious risk of environmental damage. Other than that this is a State Government issue.
- Coal Seam Gas companies are suspected that they may not be meeting all of their obligations.
- More data is needed on the impact of Coal Seam Gas on contamination or depletion of water resources.
Environmental groups, such as Lock the Gate Alliance Inc, are fiercely opposed to CSG reduction. Their opposition is based on possible harm to the environment, even though their assessment may lack scientific backup. They believe that even the possibility of environmental damage is sufficient grounds to restrict CSG production.
I don't share that ideology as I want to see it completely banned in all countries. It is banned in a few countries but I am holding on for this decision in Australia.
More information re the pros and cons to this industry can be found here.
http://harounkola.com/coal-seam-gas-controversy-in-australia-explained/
Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Lock all the Gates ... even Hell's Seven Gates!
Much is written about the Seven Gates of Hell. One is supposedly located on one of each of the
continents.
The seven traditional continents are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
The seven traditional continents are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
That Means That there is one Gate of Hell for each Continent respectively. Australia's Hells Gate is located at Rookwood Cemetary in Greater Sydney. Some needs to put a yellow triangle on this gate.
 |
| Csg ? You tube Brian Monk.... It was very effective indeed. |
I want to share a few thoughts on Lock the
Gate today. It is often criticized, I was there in its early days, at
Broke a while later, at the forming meeting, I know a lot of its story, I
know most of its early players.
It has been awesome, taken CSG from unknown to a household name, that is amazing. It has saved the Nth Rivers and no doubt most if not all of NSW and Vic and I CERTAINLY haven't given up on Qld, WA, and SA..
So, what is wrong with LTG? There are a few things in my opinion, but I would rather discuss what is right. It is the way all of the groups and regions have taken the LTG message and applied it to local custom, nothing points that out better than the Nth Rivers victory, the Nth Central NSW group with 100% lock out, Camden, Scenic Rim, Felton, soon to be Gippsland, what about the Otways.
These groups all do their own thing their own way. But at the core of it is not LTG management but in fact LTG philosophy, we are Australians, we want a future, we want the planet to have a future, not the most stupid concept you will hear today is it?
So tell me, what is wrong with LTG that is more negative to neutralize the groups who are winning, one by one, a new region of winners is added to the growing list. I take that as pretty awesome, I'm proud to walk with this group, I'm proud to see what is happening as the country wakes up to the filth of this industry.
They are waking because of each and every member and supporter who is spreading the word.
Remember when the media had us blacked out, we would do an action and no one from the media turned up, those days are now few and far between. But it is important to see how far we have come and how far we have to go.
Every Aussie who Locks his/her Gate adds to the power, the power that is locking the gate, saving the future. by
Brian Monk Queensland Farmer and Csg Activist. find him on facebook if you can assist him.
Read more here on Hells Gates:
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/haunted/worldmosthauntedcities.php
Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr
Friday, August 31, 2012
I'm just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing its understanding of being human I'm just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing its understanding of being human.
~John Trudell ~
Today we had a massive day with computer crashes but the show always goes on and we had Glen Schaefer Lock the Mid North Coast on the Drive Show / Melonpop Drive at 2bbb and and a very informative interview with him indeed.
Sharon Munro .. Book Launch / Richland Wasteland
Watching these videos and not being swayed by the mainstream media push to say that this type of mining is fine for everyone. It is not fine and it is very destructive.
Here is the website to get all of these yourself / Lock the Mid North Coast Videos
http://lockthemidnorthcoast.com.au/
Image by Mezza - Images @ Melonpopzdropz
Today we had a massive day with computer crashes but the show always goes on and we had Glen Schaefer Lock the Mid North Coast on the Drive Show / Melonpop Drive at 2bbb and and a very informative interview with him indeed.
 |
| Armidale Action |
Glen and I covered a huge array of topics concerning coal seam gas mining and mining in general. We played a few momentous tunes but basically the show was taken up hugely with discussion and what important discussion there was as well.The important things discussed were the Hillgrove mine east of Armidale and west of Dorrigo
Sharon Munro .. Book Launch / Richland Wasteland
Start: | September 7, 2012 10:00 am |
| End: | September 7, 2012 12:00 pm |
| Venue: | Bellingen Library |
| Phone: | (02) 6569 7162 |
| Address: |
Hyde St, Bellingen, NSW, 2450, Australia
|
| Cost: | Free |
Watching these videos and not being swayed by the mainstream media push to say that this type of mining is fine for everyone. It is not fine and it is very destructive.
Here is the website to get all of these yourself / Lock the Mid North Coast Videos
http://lockthemidnorthcoast.com.au/
Image by Mezza - Images @ Melonpopzdropz
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Lock the Mid North Coast - Latest News
As you may know there are several large mining projects are being planned for the Kempsey, Bellingen and Nambucca local government areas by companies such as Anchor Resources, Emu Nickel and Precious Metal Resources. This newsletter is to help keep everyone updated on the latest developments since our initial public meeting in Macksville
Local Council Elections
We have recently invited all Council Candidates in the Nambucca, Bellingen and Kempsey electorates to complete a short online questionnaire to state publicly where they stand on the issue of mining before your community votes on Saturday Sept 8th. We are publishing the responses as they come in and they make for interesting reading. The reponses can be found on our website here
Emu Nickel fail to raise $60 million for Hillgrove Antimony mine
We may have just had our first big win!! But it maybe only a temporary one. As you know Emu nickel were poised to buy the nasty Straits Antimony mine at Hillgrove and swing back into major production (see below) http://www.emunickel.
However we have just discovered they failed to raise the $60 million capital required for the project http://www.
metalbulletin.com/Article/
3026667/Emu-Nickel-fails-to-antimony-mine.html
We do wonder if dragging up the history of the Hillgrove Mine had anything to do with this ?
Sad history of Antimony mining revealed at Kempsey
Macleay River valley NSW (Photo credit: Wikipedia)We have recently uncovered a lot more information about the extent of the toxic spills into the Macleay River from the Hillgrove Antimony mine which underscores why we are campaigning so hard to try and stop further Antimony mining that could impact on the catchment areas of the Macleay, Nambucca and Bellingen rivers. We urge everyone to read the Kempsey Council minutes which shows the impact and cost to the community that the Antimony Mining operation at Hillgrove has caused over the years, and the serious risk to public health that it continues to pose.
http://www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/
Sad history of Antimony mining revealed at Kempsey
Macleay River valley NSW (Photo credit: Wikipedia)We have recently uncovered a lot more information about the extent of the toxic spills into the Macleay River from the Hillgrove Antimony mine which underscores why we are campaigning so hard to try and stop further Antimony mining that could impact on the catchment areas of the Macleay, Nambucca and Bellingen rivers. We urge everyone to read the Kempsey Council minutes which shows the impact and cost to the community that the Antimony Mining operation at Hillgrove has caused over the years, and the serious risk to public health that it continues to pose.http://www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/
pdfsCnlMtgs/search.asp?
searWords=antimony&Send=GoPrecious Metal Resources lodge two more exploration applications
Showing their intentions to secure all the available group1 Mineral Exploration licenses in their search for Antimony and Gold, Precious Metal Resources Pty Ltd have just lodged two new exploration applications for Group1 Metalic Minerals in the Kempsey/Armidale area. (ELA 4607 and ELA 4608)
More details can be found by using the NSW Goverments online titles viewing application MinView
Sharyn Munro to speak at Bellingen on Friday Sept 7th
“Rich Land, Wasteland has to be the most important book for everybody to read in 2012″
For nearly a year Sharyn Munro travelled through rural Australia, visiting communities in coal-mining areas. She found a war zone.
Here, ‘at the coalface’, towns and districts are dying — homeowners and farmers forced out by mining, broken in spirit and in health, or else under threat, in limbo and battling the might of the multinationals. Incidences of asthma, cancers and heart attacks show alarming spikes in communities close to coal mines and coal power stations, yet the government seems powerless (or unwilling) to act.
Notice for a meeting about Sharyn Munro's book: Rich land, Wasteland (Photo credit: kateausburn)Once reliable rivers and aquifers are drying up or become polluted, once fertile agricultural land is becoming unusable. But the big mostly foreign-owned mining companies continue to push on with their coal rush and government continues to assist and protect them: ever more mining licences are granted, ever bigger mines are opened. In this life-changing book, Sharyn exposes the real story of coal: how people are hurting, and rebelling, as coal pushes into hitherto unthinkable areas; how the true costs outweigh any benefits; and how all of us will ultimately pay the price.
Come and hear Sharyn talk at the Bellingen Public Library on Friday 7th Sept at 10am - It's a free event.
com.au/event/rich-land-waste-
land-book-launch-at-bellingen/Seed Group Meetings
Since our initial public meeting at Macksville we have held several well attended 'seed group' meetings for the Nambucca and Bellingen groups to develop campaign strategies. If you would like to volunteer and particapte in the future development of the Lock the Mid North Coast campaign we would love to hear from you and you can discuss idea's and find out about our future meetings on the members forums here (you must be sign up as a member for free first)
As Tony Abbott made his way over the Bellinger River on Sunday, chants of “Lock the Gate, Lock the Gate” rang out. Riding alongside Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, Mr Abbott was participating in the NAB Cycle Challenge during a weekend visit to the Coffs Coast. The peaceful and colourful anti-mining protest took place as the riders came off Lavenders Bridge, with around 80 men, women and children taking up the chant.
Many were part of a newly formed group, ‘Lock the Gate Mid North Coast’ which is opposing several large scale antimony and gold mining projects on the Dorrigo plateau and in the Nambucca and Bellinger Valley.
Spokesman for Lock the Gate, Glen Schaefer, said the group wanted to take the opportunity to let Tony Abbott know their feelings. “We wanted to take the opportunity to let Tony Abbott know that the Bellingen and Nambucca communities are strongly opposed to any form of mining in our catchment areas that could potentially contaminate the Macleay, Nambucca, Kalang or Bellinger Rivers, or harm our prime agricultural lands,” Mr Schaefer said.
Spokesman for Lock the Gate, Glen Schaefer, said the group wanted to take the opportunity to let Tony Abbott know their feelings. “We wanted to take the opportunity to let Tony Abbott know that the Bellingen and Nambucca communities are strongly opposed to any form of mining in our catchment areas that could potentially contaminate the Macleay, Nambucca, Kalang or Bellinger Rivers, or harm our prime agricultural lands,” Mr Schaefer said.
But Mr Hartsuyker, who invited Mr Abbott as a special guest on the charity ride, was not impressed with the protest.
Read the full story herehttp://www.coffscoastindependent.com.au/story/188840/mining-protestors-greet-abbott-on-ride/?cs=393
About Us
Lock the Mid North Coast is a large group of local residents from Bellingen Shire, Coffs Harbour City, Clarence Valley and Nambucca Shire local government areas of NSW who have joined together to prevent destructive mining projects. There are now over 2,600 members of our Facebook group and nearly 1,500 local residents and land owners are on our mailing list.
For further details about the mining projects happening in our area including document downloads, video's, news and maps about all the various mining projects happening in our region please visit our web site at: http://lockthemidnorthcoast.com.au
E: info@lockthemidnorthcoast.com.au
Related articles
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Lock the Gate
Yes ....Lock the Gate is getting ready to do some fighting back. This mining situation has now reached the level of idiocy that is unable to be comprehended by the ordinary people of this world we live alongside of.
This lack of acknowledgement aside from the land and health degradation has a lot of the farmers outraged and the ones who are all for it have been swindled effectively! This is unethical and un Australian from the point of view of being sensible where earth matters are concerned and to not listen to the farmer when they are screaming for them to STOP is just heinous.
There needs to be a moratorium on mining in this country.
For too long there has been a division between the conservative people and the left wing more active members of any one community. These very worrying issues surrounding mining practices has brought these two unlikely groups together to fight a serious fight side by side.
For the first time the farmers are now relying upon the green activists who they had formerly ridiculed as being just that, activists to help them fight this very dirty and unethical fight for all of our lives and any future of a half healthy Australia.
We all know we have ongoing issues in Australia regarding eco matters. This sort of degradation is going to make the past mistakes look like kindergarten mistakes believe me. This sort of damage will effect our land in a way that we will never ever be able to recover. The animals will die and the people will die. The children are already sick on the Darling Downs in Queensland. The Condamine River had five kilometers of Gas bubbling up in the river and the river is dead now.
Lock your Gate and get educated. No human with half a brain could ever think this will be ok. We must act now before the pilot wells go in. Action is needed near Casino right now.
Image by Mezza.
Lock the Gate Koala Vee , Bob Brown and Dick Smith / Energy Festival Bellingen 2012.
This lack of acknowledgement aside from the land and health degradation has a lot of the farmers outraged and the ones who are all for it have been swindled effectively! This is unethical and un Australian from the point of view of being sensible where earth matters are concerned and to not listen to the farmer when they are screaming for them to STOP is just heinous.
There needs to be a moratorium on mining in this country.
For too long there has been a division between the conservative people and the left wing more active members of any one community. These very worrying issues surrounding mining practices has brought these two unlikely groups together to fight a serious fight side by side.
For the first time the farmers are now relying upon the green activists who they had formerly ridiculed as being just that, activists to help them fight this very dirty and unethical fight for all of our lives and any future of a half healthy Australia.
We all know we have ongoing issues in Australia regarding eco matters. This sort of degradation is going to make the past mistakes look like kindergarten mistakes believe me. This sort of damage will effect our land in a way that we will never ever be able to recover. The animals will die and the people will die. The children are already sick on the Darling Downs in Queensland. The Condamine River had five kilometers of Gas bubbling up in the river and the river is dead now.
Lock your Gate and get educated. No human with half a brain could ever think this will be ok. We must act now before the pilot wells go in. Action is needed near Casino right now.
Image by Mezza.
Lock the Gate Koala Vee , Bob Brown and Dick Smith / Energy Festival Bellingen 2012.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Deputy Premier Paul Lucas of Queensland held a Gas forum in Dalby (Hansard)
Back in 2008 there were major concerns by farmers re Access Agreements, FIFO workers, Environmental Damage, QGC Running rough shod over Farmers in the Surat Coal Basin aka The Darling Downs. Some four years later we were fully aware of what was happening.
The 1800 number on the sign above is not available even if there was an emergency.
From Hansard - Tuesday, 25 November 2008 - Page: 11338
Link to Hansard Page
Mr BRUCE SCOTT (10:36 PM) —I rise to talk about the Surat coal basin, which lies largely in my electorate of Maranoa and floats up into the edge of the electorate of Flynn. I want to talk about a forum that was held in my electorate last week in the town of Dalby, that was organised by the Deputy Premier, Paul Lucas. I think that in a large part the Deputy Premier was responding not only to the calls of organisations such as AgForce and to those of local mayors but also to the forum that I held and had invited the Deputy Premier and Minister Wilson to in July this year.
Some of the concerns that landholders have in relation to the development of the coal seam methane gas and the coal industry—the mining exploration for coal in the Surat coal basin—are the issues of access to their land and, if there are resources below the soil, how those resources will be accessed. Quite apart from that, there are large environmental issues that many landholders are still concerned about. The Deputy Premier, Paul Lucas, did come to the forum. He addressed the meeting, as did the local mayor. He was welcomed in a very cordial manner, as were all the attendees at the forum, many of whom were perhaps not invited but turned up because of the real concern in our community with regard to the access arrangements to the coal seam methane and the resources below the soil, mainly coal.
The Deputy Premier did announce some changes that he would bring forward in relation to the access arrangements, including a code of practice. This is long overdue, but it will certainly make a difference in relation to negotiations between mining and gas companies and the landholders. Up until the last month it has in many ways been a bit ‘Rafferty’s rules’. There has been angst in the community. There has been a lot of anger expressed to my office and to me, and at meetings that have been organised by AgForce and other community groups there has also been real anger. It did appear to me that a lot of the companies felt that they had a divine right to go onto people’s land and that they had primacy over the title deed holders.
Whilst they might have a right to the mining of the resources below the soil, they certainly need to do a lot more in public relations and dealing with people’s property, particularly in relation to access arrangements when people are trying to conduct a business on that land and also in relation to any possible compensation that those landholders could gain from a negotiated outcome between the coal seam methane gas company and the landholder. So I look forward to seeing the results of that code of practice and I hope it will go a long way towards easing some of the confusion and anger that has been in the community.
The day before the forum I attended the Queensland Gas and Sunshine Gas installation just south of Chinchilla, which is now being taken over by British Gas. It is interesting. The CEO of British Gas was out here to meet with the workers and to look at the plans for the development of that coal seam methane gas south of Chinchilla. Their proposal is to prove up enough gas, take it to Gladstone and convert it to LNG for export. That is going to be a terribly important resource for the whole nation. It is interesting that British Gas are now a capitalised company on the publicly listed stock exchange in London and are actually worth more than BHP. That will give you some idea of this global company that has come into my electorate and has made a friendly takeover of Queensland Gas and Sunshine Gas.
One of the important aspects of the coal seam methane operation at that installation just south of Chinchilla is that the people who work in that industry are local people. They are people who live in the towns of Wallumbilla, Surat, Chinchilla, Miles and Roma. They are not fly in, fly out, so some of the wealth that is coming from below the soil is, through those wages and salaries, being felt and a benefit is coming to our local communities. I do not have time tonight, but I will return to talk about global food security and the issue of prime agricultural land. (Time expired)
FURTHER ON
HANSARD - Tuesday, 26 October 2010 - Page: 1642
Mr BUCHHOLZ (9:50 PM) —I rise in the House to draw the attention of my colleagues to some matters which affect my electorate. I note that I have received advice from the Queensland Farmers’ Federation and wish to acknowledge their contribution in this speech. The minister has recently announced approvals for liquefied natural gas facilities at Gladstone. This is the downstream outlet for the coal seam gas which will be extracted from my electorate of Wright and other electorates in regional Queensland. This decision will likely trigger other coal seam gas projects throughout the Surat Basin. The rapid expansion of the industry is outpacing science and frightening landowners on whom the properties and the well heads are being constructed. While the agricultural industry does not wish to stand against developments that support a diverse economy, concerns remain about the slow planning process surrounding coal seam gas, particularly in light of the myriad scientific details that remain still under debate.
Just last week, AgForce and other groups called for a moratorium on coal seam gas. The Queensland Farmers’ Federation raised the prospect of a moratorium six months ago, indicating there was a strong argument for government to adopt precautionary principles with coal seam gas development, given the government has been willing to quickly do this for other areas of state planning. The farming and rural interests want a fair policy for strategic cropping land in Queensland. Without appropriate safeguards there is potential for damage to farmland, underground water, and the environment. The risk is now heightened following the approvals for the liquid gas facility at Gladstone.
These concerns were exacerbated early last week with reports that testing in eight exploratory wells near Miles had revealed traces of BTEX chemicals—that is, benzene, toluene, ethylene and xylene. While these traces were small, it demonstrates the importance of protecting agricultural land and rural residents who rely on underground water for stock and domestic consumption. Repressurisation and connectivity of underground reserves cannot be guaranteed but need to be taken seriously.
We do not want to see a repeat of the proposed Murray-Darling Basin plan. The water minister has indicated in this place that he has ordered a review of the Water Act legislation in relation to the Murray-Darling overview and I would urge him to widen that review to include the impact of coal seam gas on regional Queensland’s underground water resources. We need to know whether the Water Act can actually deliver on the triple bottom line aspirations that good policy would require.
It seems curious that at the very time the minister has approved the coal seam gas projects we have also seen the launch of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, which I will refer to as the alliance. As I said in my maiden speech, my electorate contains some of the most productive agricultural land in Australia—the Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim districts. Given its close proximity to major markets, this farmland represents a strategic resource which goes to the heart of our food security.
The alliance has been launched with a view to cementing Queensland’s position as an international leader in tropical and subtropical agriculture and food research. The alliance is a new institute of the University of Queensland, which runs its Gatton campus in my electorate. We need to know whether the minister’s approval for coal seam gas projects has taken this initiative into account. Under the alliance, plant, animal and food scientists will work together to develop new technologies and practices to benefit these important industries.
It is hoped that the alliance will strengthen Queensland’s collective capacity to deliver high-impact research and development outcomes in areas that will not only benefit Queensland industries, but will also put Queensland on the map as a world leader in tropical and subtropical agriculture and food research. The range of research to be undertaken at the alliance is extensive and highly industry focused The outcomes are expected to return millions of dollars to Queensland agriculture and food industries in the future. Therefore, I urge the minister to take these matters seriously and provide some assurance to my electors that their interests are being considered. In summary, I would urge the minister to widen the review of the Water Act legislation in relation to the Murray-Darling overview to include the impact of coal seam gas on regional Queensland’s underground water resources.
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
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