Lock the Gate welcomes the likely return of a Queensland Labor Government as an opportunity to fully implement its agenda and protect Queensland’s precious agricultural land and water resources from incompatible mining and gas developments.
“This election, thousands of Queenslanders made a clear call for long term protections for Queensland’s land, water and prime agricultural areas from coal and gas,” said Ellie Smith of the Lock the Gate Alliance.
“One of the key achievements of Queensland Labor in their last term was to restore community objection rights for locals to oppose damaging mining proposals. This year, those rights saw local farmers take the Acland Stage 3 coal proposal to court and win, hands down.
“The Land Court rejection was based on the mine’s potential impacts on some of QLD’s most important cropping land and groundwater, impacts that would be felt for generations to come.
“Now, it is time for Queensland Labor to give our farmers a fair go and accept the recommendation of the Land Court to reject the Acland Stage 3 expansion.”
Another key Labor platform was for improved mine site rehabilitation.
“We are going to keep working hard to ensure it is no longer acceptable for mining and gas companies to mine our resources, pay us a pittance for the privilege, and then leave their mess behind for the Queensland taxpayer to clean up.
“Farmers and communities will continue to fight the ill-conceived Adani mine and Government handouts to gift a billionaire a big short-term profit while leaving local communities to suffer the consequences of the mine’s negative impacts on groundwater and grazing land.
“Communities across Queensland are going to keep standing up for the protection of our water and food growing areas. We won’t rest until the Great Artesian Basin, the Fraser Coast, the Darling Downs and our Outback Channel Country are protected from unsustainable and incompatible mining and gas developments,” she said.
Labor’s letter of commitments to the Lock the Gate Alliance is publicly available online here: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/lockthegate/pages/5198/attachments/original/1511252328/jackie-trad.pdf?1511252328
Lock the Gate will work with Queensland landholders to achieve the following outcomes from this Labor Government;
1. A fair go for local farmers who use their community objection rights to win in the courts against damaging mining proposals. Acland Stage 3 rejected in line with Land Court recommendation.
2. Protect our land, food production and water by legislated no go zones for gasfields in the Fraser Coast/Wide Bay Burnett and Outback Western Rivers and permanent protection for Priority Agricultural Areas from coal mining and CSG.
3. Protect people’s health by giving landholders and Traditional Owners the right to say ‘no’ to mining and gas and a 10km buffer from homes to coal mines and major gas infrastructure, and 2km buffer from homes to all gas wells.
4. Make the miners clean up their mess by rehabilitating as they go and not leaving behind huge voids, waste dumps and a permanently scarred landscape.
5. Ensure a sustainable economy by increasing royalty payments to 15% and ensure royalties are invested in the regions impacted by resource development.