http://larissa-waters.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/nationals-run-and-hide-greens%E2%80%99...
The Nationals, along with the Liberals and Labor, have today failed to support the Australian Greens’ Senate motion calling for the Liverpool Plains to be off limits to CSG and coal, including the Shenhua Watermark mine.
“The Nationals Senators all fled the chamber for the vote, while the Liberal and Labor Senators voted against our call for the protection of the Liverpool Plains,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said
“The Nationals didn’t even have the guts to go on record and tell their constituents whether they think the Liverpool Plains should be permanently off-limits for coal and coal seam gas mining.
“The Nationals are playing both sides, saying one thing in regional communities and then doing another in the Parliament while taking donations from the mining and gas industry.
“The Liverpool Plains, with rich black soil, excellent water resources and ideal climatic conditions, is one of Australia’s most important farming regions.
“It’s blatantly hypocritical of the Nationals to purport to care about agriculture and then to stand by while this valuable farmland is trashed.
“The vote today indicates that federal Coalition has extended the Shenhua approval date so that it’s after the election, not because of concern about water impacts.
“It’s farcical for Environment Minister Hunt to boast about federal environmental checks, given he is trying to hand federal environment powers to state governments.
“If Minister Hunt had successfully handed over these powers, the decision would be left to the NSW government, which has already approved the Shenhua mine.
“The Greens are proud to have secured the numbers in the Senate to block the Abbott Government’s plan to hand federal environment powers to state governments, which would wind back 30 years of protection,” Senator Waters said.
New South Wales Greens Tamworth candidate Pat Schultz, who has campaigned for the protection of the Liverpool Plains against mining for the past three years, said:
“Our fertile plains are essential to our community and they must be protected for generations of locals to come.
“The Greens always have and always will stand up against the big mining companies to protect our land, water and climate.
Contacts:
Senator Waters (Monique Vandeleur) 0419 626 725
NSW Greens (Julie Macken) 0400 925 217
Text of motion:
- The Senate notes that:
- The Liverpool Plains is one of the most important agricultural regions in Australia with rare and highly productive black soils, excellent water resources and a favourable local climate;
- Farming has occurred on the Liverpool Plains for generations and the agricultural productivity of the area is up to 40 per cent above the national average for all farming regions of Australia;
- Highly productive agricultural land, like that of the Liverpool Plains, is a finite resource.
- The NSW Planning Assessment Commission has recently approved the development of Chinese state-owned company Shenhua’s Watermark open-cut coal mine on the Liverpool Plains which will extract 268 million tonnes of coal over 30 years three kilometres from the town of Breeza.
- Farmers in the region are angry and extremely concerned that if this coal mine goes ahead their soils and the highly interconnected groundwater aquifers they rely on will be irreversibly damaged.
- The Northern Daily Leader reported on 4 July 2014 that the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce MP has said, “I think the idea of a coalmine on the Breeza Plains is an absurdity” and “I think it’s most likely that it’s going to have a deleterious effect on the aquifers.”
- The ABC has reported on 9 September 2014 that the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce MP has said of the Liverpool Plains, “I've always said from the start that I don't believe that it is the appropriate place for a coal mine.”
- The Senate believes that the Liverpool Plains should be permanently off limits to coal mining and coal seam gas extraction.
Mining above all else.
