A leaked document shows that the NSW Farmers Association are highly critical of the state government’s ability to deliver on key policy to ensure balance between the agricultural and mining industries.
SMH reports on 13 October 2011:
A GROUP established to manage land use conflicts over mining and coal seam gas exploration in NSW is at risk of collapse, with farmers warning they will walk away if the process does not live up to the O’Farrell government’s election commitments. [...]
…the farmers’ association says it is unhappy with key aspects of the policy development process. It says draft plans do not meet the government’s promise to quarantine some land from mining activity as they allow mining exploration activities to occur, which was ”inconsistent with the policy”.
It is critical of ”inadequate data and inadequate stakeholder engagement”.
This breakdown in policy development comes less than a month after the NSW Farmers said in a submission to the NSW parliamentary inquiry into coal seam gas (CSG) that it was “supportive of the current Coalition Government process outlined in its Strategic Land Use Policy”.
Plans to develop policy to manage land use between industries with a view to protecting agricultural land were a key promise from the Coalition in the lead up to the state election earlier this year.
SMH reported on 16 February 2011 (emphasis my own):
MINING would take second place to food security when assessing competing land use claims if the Coalition were elected at next month’s state election, with a halt proposed for all new mine and gas exploration licences for up to a year pending further study.
In a dramatic overhaul to the way contested land use is handled, a Coalition government would establish as a central tenet that strategic agricultural land is a finite resource that must be conserved to ensure future food security.
There would also be tighter environmental control of proposed mines and gas fields, and more active monitoring of water resources, especially in parts of the state where several mines have been proposed.
Following its successful election the Coalition government led by Premier Barry O’Farrell released documents in May 2011 detailing its policy plans to manage land use across the state.
The announcement outlined a number of transitional arrangements leading to the development of a Strategic Regional Land Use Policy and an Overarching Coal and Gas Policy. The government said (emphasis my own):
Strategic Regional Land Use Plans will identify the best places for a range of land uses - agriculture (including cropping, viticulture, and thoroughbred breeding), mining, coal seam gas extraction, conservation, urban development, and other types of land use. Particular consideration will be given to conflicts about land use, where growth in the coal and coal seam gas industries has the potential to impact on agriculture.
These plans will be developed for all parts of the State. The first plans to be delivered will focus on the areas that are experiencing significant activity in the coal and coal seam gas industries.
A reference group that included the NSW Farmers was established at the time of this announcement “for the purposes of providing advice to the Government on the development and implementation of the initiatives.”
The reference group also includes Association of Mining Related Councils, Total Environment Centre, NSW Aboriginal Land Council, NSW Minerals Council, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC), NSW Irrigators Council, Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association, and the Thoroughbred Breeders of the Hunter Valley.
The NSW Farmers confirmed in a statement that it had tabled the leaked document to the reference group and said they had “outlined concerns that the implementation of the State Government’s policy … would not meet the outcomes of the policy presented to the communities of NSW during the 2011 State Election campaign.”
The NSW Farmers represent the interests of the majority of commercial farm operations throughout the farming community in NSW.
Photo via Jeremy Buckingham.
Well, why am I not surprised?
Liberals’ deny Climate change and big CSG business have their ear, because the NSW Government will seek to deliver a convenient energy system that will be popular where it counts – on the Coast of NSW.
Country, well it can go to hell in a hand basket for the all the O’Farrell team care!
Its now clearly evident how this is working as the Country Party seek to block renewable energy along with O’Farrell, by opposition or rejection of Wind Farms.
The future for NSW is hanging in the balance, unless people speak up and join an organisation to end this crazy CSG stuff, I mean we all get hungry and one day there is going to be a food shock…