Lock the Gate Alliance welcomes statements from local politicians announcing their opposition to a proposed coal mine north of Bundaberg.
There has been vocal community opposition to the planned development, owned by Western Australia-based Fox Resources, since Lock the Gate drew attention to it.
Most recently, a parliamentary petition has been created to denounce the proposal.
The creation of the petition follows Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey and Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett also voicing their opposition to the project.
Lock the Gate spokesperson Vicki Perrin said a mining company should never have been allowed to make an application to destroy land as precious as that north of Bundaberg.
“The Regional Planning Interest laws were introduced by the Newman Government in 2014 to protect prime farmland from mining, but as this proposal shows, those laws haven’t worked,” she said.
“This mine, if ever built, would destroy some of the most fertile agricultural country in the state, and pose a major environmental hazard for rivers and creeks that flow into the southern Great Barrier Reef.
“This mine proposal shows why we desperately need changes to regional planning laws, in line with the demands of the Plan to Grow initiative.
“We welcome support from Mr Dempsey and Mr Bennett in the communities’ battle against this mine, it’s really great to see them backing local people.
“However we urge them, through their positions of power, to do more to change regional planning laws so that our best farmland and other key assets are not threatened by resource activities.
“There are some places that are just too precious to be mined.”