KCCG Rejects Moreton Poll
KCCG spokesman John Dalton
April 26, 2016
The Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group believes the results of phone poll released by Moreton Resources last week do not accurately reflect the views of Kingaroy residents about a new coal mine near the town.
“(Moreton) has paid a consulting firm to design a survey to produce information that is in the best interest of the company and not the affected community,” the latest newsletter from the anti-mining group, distributed by John Dalton, states.
“We have photographic evidence that after two years of information from (Moreton) and 25 minutes of information from KCCG, 100 per cent of 935 people voted against the mine in February.
“This contrasts sharply with (Moreton’s) polling of only 500 people that gave 61 per cent support to a vague poll question.”
The KCCG, which was originally formed to fight Cougar Energy’s UCG plant at Coolabunia and has now taken on Cougar’s successor Moreton Resources, said their February 9 meeting at Kingaroy Town Hall was a better demonstration of the views of Kingaroy residents, as only residents in the 4610 postcode area received invitations to attend.
The KCCG said Moreton’s poll of residents from across the South Burnett collected the views of people who did not live in the Kingaroy area. They were less likely to have attended the February forum “and so were less likely to see or hear about any negative impacts from the company’s proposal”, the newsletter said.
The KCCG also raised doubts about the questions that were asked by the polling company.
“(Moreton) is unlikely to ever ask people the direct question: ‘Do you want the Meandu Mine to close and be replaced by one just like it, only next to Kingaroy and with all inherent problems associated with such a move?” Mr Dalton said.
“However, they are more likely to ask people all over the South Burnett: ‘Do you think that the South Burnett needs jobs and economic development from a project such as a coal mine?’.”
The KCCG summed up the Moreton poll as: “The majority of SB residents who are unlikely to have heard of the negative impacts of the (Moreton) mine, and who are unlikely to be affected by the proposal, believe that the SB area could do with an economic boost from a coal mine.”
They said the results of their “poll” at the Kingaroy Town Hall was “100 per cent of people who have heard of the possible negative effects of closing the Meandu Mine at Tarong and replacing it with one near Kingaroy reject the idea”.
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Of course the KCCG is rejecting the results of this phone poll because it doesn’t favour them. Just as I am sure that Moreton Resources would reject any polling conducted that didn’t favour their desired result. This whole argument seems to be repeating itself with one group claiming certain facts and the other with their own facts. Both sides of the argument seem to have merit on certain points but at the end of the day if this project doesn’t go ahead I really don’t believe it will have anything to do with the community’s disapproval.
I agree. The KCCG are saying certain things are facts, but I’ve yet to see any of them proven. And Moreton say they have answers for the KCCG’s concerns, but I’ve yet to see any of those proven, either. I’m prepared to wait for the approvals process to run its course if this project ever gets that far. And until then, I doubt this debate will get any further than it already has.