Lock the Gate Alliance President, Drew Hutton today welcomed comments by the Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk about the expansion of New Hope’s Acland mine.
The Premier said on Alan Jones’s radio show this morning that the State Government had “a lot of concerns” about any loss of prime agricultural land.
She said she had asked the Mines Minister, Anthony Lynham to review the Coordinator-General’s decision about the Acland mine stage 3 expansion and its impacts on the region’s agricultural.
Premier Palaszczuk also said the State Government wanted to restore the rights of nearby landholders to object to proposed mining developments, a right expunged by the previous LNP Government.
“We know how important that agricultural land is and the need to keep it for the future and that’s going to be a priority for my government,” she told Mr Jones.
Mr Hutton said he welcomed “the common sense” the Premier was showing about the need to protect Queensland’s prime agricultural land from mining.
“Our legal advice shows that the government is not bound by the Coordinator-General decision and can over-turn it to save this precious Darling Downs agricultural land,” Mr Hutton said.
“It’s very heartening to hear common sense returning to the debate about mining versus agricultural land and the need to protect communities and landholders.”
Lock the Gate is running radio advertisements to remind the ALP about its pre-election statements on the mine.