FEDERAL Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says he has no powers to intervene on behalf of farmers and halt Shenhua Watermark’s plans to construct a $1 billion coalmine on the Liverpool Plains.
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The New England MP has been a strident critic of the proposal and said opponents of the open-cut coalmine, to be located in the farming district of Breeza, should direct their anger at the state government.
“I’ve always said from the start that I don’t believe it is the appropriate place for a coalmine,” he said.
“However ... people (have to) understand it’s not my choice. It is not the role of the federal government to approve it, or not approve it.
“It was (former NSW Labor minister) Ian Macdonald, who’s now been found to be corrupt, who approved this and questions have to be asked about how this process started in the first place.”
The state’s peak independent planning panel last week gave the controversial project its conditional support, providing the state-owned Chinese company conducts additional water modelling.
The Planning Assessment Commission’s (PAC) favourable review, in which it declared the proposed mine site “should be able to be mined without significant impacts to the agricultural productivity of the Liverpool Plains” has outraged many farmers.
The ruling does mean the region moves a significant step closer to being the beneficiary of not just the creation of an estimated 1200 jobs, but spin-off developments such as the $50 million workers camp at Werris Creek.
Liverpool Plains Shire Council mayor Ian Lobsey was keeping tight-lipped about his thoughts on the PAC’s decision when contacted yesterday by The Leader.
While the mine is located within Gunnedah Shire Council’s boundaries, the most vehement objectors are farmers on the Liverpool Plains who claim the mine poses an unacceptable risk to the region’s water resources. However, Cr Lobsey did say it was the council’s position that “any mining development that takes place has to be sustainable and not affect the aquifers – and definitely no mining on the black soil plains”.
Gunnedah mayor Owen Hasler said he was reserving his judgement until the council – with the help of a consultant – had conducted a thorough review of the PAC’s report to determine if its concerns had been addressed.
The PAC report will go to the state’s planning department for assessment before it convenes another meetingto hold hearings, after which a final decision on the mine will be made.
