Darren D.J Hunt
Katters Australian Party Candidate for Cairns
COAL SEAM GAS DANGERS
Katter’s Australia Party is the ONLY party in Queensland parliament opposed to CSG fracking at the expense of our environment and vital farm lands. Here is the release from our party leaders regarding the issues of Coal Seam Gas-
Federal and State Leaders of Katter’s Australian Party, Bob Katter and Aidan McLindon, today vowed to keep CSG exploration out of South East Queensland. Mr Katter and Mr McLindon made the commitment at the site of a CSG blockade at Kerry, south of Brisbane.
“Katter’s Australian Party will keep CSG out of SEQ. It is the only party that is serious about protecting the interests of Australian farmers from an industry that is almost wholly foreign owned,” said Mr McLindon.
“Katter’s Australian Party has a straightforward plan to achieve this. It will impose an immediate 12 month moratorium on all new CSG projects. It will give landowner the right to say no to mining. It will make South East Queensland off limits.”
“Chinese and Dutch owned Arrow Energy wants to start drilling in the heart of the Gold Coast Hinterland and on the doorstep of massive satellite cities planned for the outskirts of Brisbane. This is not good enough.”
Speaking at the site of the week-long blockade, Mr Katter said that he was happy to lead the fight for Australia’s interests.
“Only today we are reading that Australian mining companies are being pressured to buy Chinese equipment to dig up and export Australian resources and send them overseas. This madness must stop and we will do something about it,” said Mr Katter.
“The CSG industry is being hailed as the lifesaver of Queensland’s economy but the truth is far from it. It only generates a token amount of Queensland’s tax revenue while foreign companies take the profits, not Australians.”
“Even worse, the domestic price for gas is expected to increase. Analysts predict the hunger for gas exports will double Australian gas prices.”
“The reality is that CSG provides limited benefits to Queensland and we will do something about this. The tragedy is that the current ruling class in Australia, on both sides of politics, don’t care and they must be thrown out for this.”
“The need for an Australian political party with a focus on core values and principle to protect Australia’s interests is more urgent than ever and I urge all Queenslanders to stand up in this political war for Australia’s interests at the next election.”
DRAFT Coal Seam Gas Policy
COMMUNITY SAFEGUARD
Mining companies to put up a“make good” bond at the beginning of the project.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
- Introduction of a “Royalties for Regions” program where 20% of the royalties earned from a region must be returned to the region.
- A requirement for mining companies to invest in Queensland’s social and physical infrastructure.
- Introduction of tax incentives for companies and employees to reward local placement of workers and deter Fly In Fly out miners.
RESTORE PROPERTY RIGHTS
No mining or exploration activity will be permitted on landholder’s property without
the landholder’s explicit consent.
PROTECT THE GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
Prohibition on hydraulic fracturing (fraccing) within three kilometres in any direction from any aquifer, groundwater source or groundwater supply point.
NO UNDERGROUND COMBUSTION NEAR DEVELOPED AREAS
Five year moratorium on any mining activity that requires the underground combustion of the resource as a critical process.
Katter’s Australian Party recognises the significant contributions mining and associated activities have made and continue to make to Queensland through royalty payments, Commonwealth income tax grants, GST revenues, capital and recurrent spending, job creation, and community development and support.
Equally, Katter’s Australian Party is committed to the long term stewardship of Queensland’s natural resources, identifying and protecting assets of community, industry and state interest, ensuring the viability and sustainability of Queensland’s food production regions and protecting and upholding landholder’s rights by empowering community and providing legislative support.
Katter’s Australia Party Coal Seam Gas policy:
COMMUNITY SAFEGUARD
- Will require all applicants to lodge a ‘make good’ bond calculated as a percentage of projected project revenues. This bond will be held in trust by the government in an interest bearing account for the term of the project. Any ‘make good’ needed during the life of the project is to be paid by the project operator from project revenue as needed and any shortfall at the end of the project will be paid out of the bond. Any balance remaining at the end of the project will be returned to the project operator. Any interest earned on this bond is to be spent on social and capital infrastructure in the project region in a way that enhances both the project’s and the community’s viability.
- Will ensure the viability and development of population centres and agricultural land by close supervision of exploration permits, mining permits and mineral development leases issued over these areas. Existing permits which are not in the public interest will not be renewed.
COMMUNITY DEVLOPMENT
- Will actively promote and support a “Royalties to Regions” initiative whereby 20 per cent of mining royalties earned from region must be returned to the region in the form of social and capital infrastructure. The “Royalties to Regions” initiative is separate to any other budget allocations and expenditure under this program is to be ratified by community representatives and local government.
- Will only grant mining and development licences to applicants willing to commit to long term investment in Queensland’s social and physical infrastructure. To this end applicants must actively engage in training Australian labour, capacity building in local communities and encourage residential and industrial development in local communities.
- Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) operations will be wound back to facilitate community development. Katter’s Australian Party will remove tax incentives that encourage FIFO mineral development and promote tax incentives for both employer and employees to support development in regional locations.
RESTORE PROPERTY RIGHTS
- Will promote and support property rights legislation that restores negotiating power to landholders. No mining or exploration activity will be permitted on a landholder’s property without the landholder’s explicit consent. A landholder retains the absolute right to withhold consent and any consent given must be a written agreement based on terms that are deemed by the landholder to be fair and reasonable and recognise the landholder’s rights.
- In the interests of transparency, exploration and mining applicants must maintain a register of consent agreements and these details are to be publicly available.
PROTECT THE GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
- Will ensure the protection of the Great Artesian Basin and other groundwater resources for the long term national interest by prohibiting hydraulic fracturing (fraccing) within three kilometres in any direction from any aquifer, groundwater source or groundwater supply point.
- Affirms that it will continue to expressly prohibit the use of benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene (BTEX) in hydraulic fracturing.
- Additionally, known carcinogens will be prohibited from use in fraccing and will ensure all chemical information and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are publicly available through the appropriate departmental website as well as the project operator’s website.
- Will ensure government, in conjunction with appropriately qualified independent authorities, community representatives and industry proponents, undertake comprehensive multidisciplinary studies of aquifers subject to mining impacts. These studies are to investigate, identify and determine interconnectivity and evaluate aquifer impacts, including drawdown levels. These studies are to take into account individual projects and the aggregate impact of all proposed projects. These studies will determine acceptable drawdown levels and these levels must be subject to ratification by the community.
- Will ensure these studies also identify and determine a ceiling on the maximum amount of water that can be extracted on a daily basis associated with Coal Seam Gas activity as well as long term safe and sustainable solutions to effectively manage and treat all by-products of Coal Seam Gas activities. These studies must be subject to ratification by the community, and where no such solutions can be found production will cease.
NO UNDERGROUND COMBUSTION NEAR DEVELOPED AREAS
- Will place a five year moratorium on any mining activity that requires the underground combustion of the resource as a critical process. This moratorium does not apply to pilot projects which are located away from Prime Agricultural Regions and population centres.
NB: Following further discussions with stakeholders, protection for prime agricultural land will be included in the final policy.
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