According to the Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor, the New South Wales Government’s Strategic Regional Land Use Policy that claims to protect prime agricultural land from mining may not be strong enough to meet the Commonwealth standards that NSW itself signed up for in February.
In response to a question from Mr Windsor, Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke told Parliament, “the jury’s still out” on whether the NSW policy meets the standards that NSW signed up for under a National Partnership Agreement with the Commonwealth.
Mr Windsor is concerned about the risk of further uncertainty for both farmers and miners if the NSW policy doesn’t meet the standards the NSW Government agreed to with the Commonwealth earlier this year.
“In February, NSW agreed to refer all new coal seam gas and large coal mining developments that could have a significant impact on water resources to an Independent Expert Scientific Committee for assessment,” Mr Windsor said. “The state’s mining regulators would then be required to take the advice of the Independent Expert Scientific Committee into account when deciding whether to approve new coal seam gas or large coal mining developments.
“However, it’s still unclear whether the Gateway Process announced by the NSW Government measures up to this new benchmark.
“The National Partnership Agreement sets a consistent national standard, which NSW has agreed to.
“If their policy doesn’t comply with the standards of the agreement they signed up for only six months ago, the NSW government risks further damaging the public’s trust in their ability to strike a balance between the interests of farming and mining,” Mr Windsor said.
The Independent Expert Scientific Committee is funded by the Commonwealth as part of a $200 million agreement struck with Mr Windsor in return for his support of the mining tax.
The Namoi Catchment Management Authority is already undertaking research that will inform the deliberations of the Independent Expert Scientific Committee.
“Farming communities want to ensure that mining developments aren’t approved without the appropriate scientific assessment of the risks they pose to valuable water resources.”
