1st May 2015
In April, 2014 the land Court made a watershed decision for landowners. It recommended that Hancock Coal Pty. Ltd. not be given permission to mine coal in the Alpha Basin or in the alternative that there are a number of conditions.
For Landowners the conditions were of paramount importance.
They included water monitoring bores with frequent electronic readings on the properties of the landowner objectors and “make good” agreements for water loss be made in a designated timeframe for those objectors. The company was also required to obtain a water license under the Water Act.
This decision was hailed as a victory for landholder objectors but this case may have the ability to undo the landholder win.
Property Rights Australia calls on the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines the Hon. Dr. Anthony Lynham to ensure that “make good” agreements satisfactory to landowners are enforced within an acceptable timeframe regardless of the judicial review.
The landowner objectors have faced a number of challenges since the start of the objection process. Not least of all is that the Mineral Resources Act requires that all objections to be heard at the same time. This has allowed various parties, some of whom should know better but including the media to draw the conclusion that these separate parties are related to and sympathetic to all other parties. Landowner objectors have therefore been tarred as mere spoilers of development and green sympathisers which has detracted from the essential argument that without a secure, reliable, sufficient and clean source of water their business is destroyed.
If any landowner has been labouring under the belief that the environmental groups have any sympathy for or understanding of their plight, this case should neutralise all such ideas. The environmental groups are prepared to jeopardise a very practical result for landowners based on a theoretical argument about the greenhouse gases caused by the mine which has already been rejected.
For further information contact:
Dale Stiller, 956 Upper Downfall Creek Road GULUGUBA QLD 4418
Ph: (07) 46 282 173 Email: dstil@bigpond.com
Joanne Rea : 0407 143 664
________________________________________________________________________________
PRA is a non-profit organisation of primary producers and business people from rural
areas defending the rights of property owners
www.propertyrightsaustralia.org