Lock the Gate Alliance President, Drew Hutton, said the State Government’s response to claims that it was planning to give miners a statutory right to take unlimited volumes of groundwater was “simply media spin”.
“If the State Government’s proposed changes mean that mining companies will get statutory rights to water then the ALP has back-flipped on its promise to protect landholders and the environment,” he said.
“The only way for the government to honour its promise is to completely quash Part 4 of the Water Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Act that gives mining companies unlimited access to groundwater resources while other water users have to comply with limits.
“Farmers and rural landholders are at risk of losing their precious water supplies if this change goes through and it’s simply not fair that miners are given more rights than other Queenslanders.
“It's no good having make good arrangements when the water is already gone - you can't get it back.
“Claims by the Acting Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Mark Bailey that the Palaszczuk Government will protect the Great Barrier Reef and rural landholders’ water supply and meet Labor’s election commitments without removing Part 4 are just poppycock.”