FARMERS want water availability, protection for the Great Artesian Basin, compensation, transparency from mining companies and answers to their questions.
Those were the main issues of concern at a public forum held at the Moree Memorial Hall yesterday to address concerns about coal seam gas exploration in the region.
The meeting, hosted by the Moree Plains Shire Council, the NSW Farmers’ Federation and the NSW Great Artesian Basin Advisory Group, attracted about 250 people from across the area, from farmers to concerned community members.
Representatives from mining companies Santos, Eastern Star Gas and Planet Gas attended the meeting chaired by NSW Farmers’ Association member and Moree farmer Stuart Gall, but were unable to answer all questions coming from the floor.
An issue of main concern, which was left unanswered by mining representatives, was the compensation of farmers and communities, and whether the mining companies have enough capital to fund significant damage to the Great Artesian Basin.
Moree mayor Katrina Humphries told the meeting the community relied heavily on water from the basin, particularly for one of the town’s main attraction, the Moree Hot Artesian Pool complex.
“I see myself as a custodian for the wellbeing of the Moree community,” Cr Humphries said.
“We are very protective of our aquifers, not just for agricultural production, but we drink it, and we have a burgeoning tourism industry built around it.”
Legislation regarding the self-regulation of mining companies and compliance with agreements needs to be introduced in NSW, according to Moree councillor Mike Montgomery and member for Barwon Kevin Humphries.
“The Department of Land and Water was gutted by Labor and is not there anymore,” Mr Humphries said.
“We need to double the amount of people working in compliance. We do not have the people in place to properly regulate and work through this issue at the moment.”
Lock the Gate Alliance secretary Sarah Moles said government agencies simply did not have the money or staff to enforce compliancy and self-regulation.
“The gas industry is outside the Commonwealth Water Act, the state water acts, and is not even mentioned in the On-shore Petroleum Act,” Ms Moles said.
“In Queensland there are seven requirements, six of those based on self-regulation. That’s not a good indication of transparency and
accountability.”
Fiona Simson said she was concerned about the lack of legislation and assessment of projects.
“Departments, councils and people looking at these submissions don’t have the information and resources to properly assess these projects,” Mrs Simson said.
“Without assessment a community doesn’t have faith in the transparency of the project.”
Cr Humphries said the matter was now in the hands of the state government.
“What they do next will be the catalyst for what we do next,” she said.
“I’d like them to enforce the security of agricultural land. You can’t eat coal or gas. Too much of our good farming has already been lost.”
Local member Mr Humphries said the state government was working towards solutions for farmers and mining.
“We want to sit down and redefine what the culture of this new government is and where we’re going to in this state,” he said.
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