October 9, 2012
The Queensland Greens claim little has changed since the election of the LNP State Government as “community concerns about Queensland’s coal seam gas industry remain unaddressed”.
Queensland Greens Senate candidate Adam Stone said that despite pre-election rhetoric about “appropriate balance” and “world’s best social and environmental outcomes”, he was struggling to see any significant change.
“The CSG industry still operates outside the Water Act, which means that unlike everyone else they don’t have to remain within sustainable groundwater extraction limits,” Mr Stone said.
“The industry’s greenhouse footprint, especially as the result of upstream fugitive emissions from pipes, wellheads and processing infrastructure, remains unknown.
“The Scenic Rim is no more protected from the CSG industry than it was under Labor, and given that the LNP has been sounding out councils about abolishing regional planning, they may soon lack the tools to honour that election commitment.
“And land holders still lack the ability to refuse CSG development on their land, meaning that they have no way of ensuring fair compensation.
“Communities suffering the attentions of the CSG industry might well be questioning whether we had an election at all.”
This follows the announcement by the State Government that it is selling shares in QR National.
The sale will reduce the government’s stake from almost 34 per cent to 16 per cent in Australia’s largest rail operator
“Those shares represent government interest and control in QR National’s lucrative coal, mineral, grain and containerisation freight business,” Mr Newson said.
“These aspects of QR National are of immense importance to regional Queensland and to the prosperity of many of our country towns.
“On the Darling Downs the monopoly of QR freight services by coal has shut out grain and cotton growers who are now forced to use road transport. It is a most profitable rail business.
“Campbell Newman’s defence is that the ALP was planning to do it anyway.
“It has become a form of government/major party bullying – mismanage government owned enterprises, allow government debt to accrue, sell-off profitable government enterprises and then tell the people of Queensland they must allow unconstrained coal and gas development because we need the royalties.
“It is the dividend from the shares that should be used to reduce government debt, not the sale of the principal.
“The Greens are against the sale of public assets which seems to becoming the norm. With the sale of Cubbie Station going through to overseas buyers when an Australian bid was higher than the one accepted, more and more land, industries and water are no longer Australian-owned.”
