KCCG committee members John Dalton, Damien O’Sullivan, Gary Tessmann and Marilyn Stephens with Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington at the group’s AGM on Tuesday

October 19, 2016

The Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group (KCCG) will continue its campaign to put an end to Moreton Resources’ plans to build an open cut coal mine near Kingaroy.

The group will be making a detailed submission to the State Government next month about the issues it believes should be looked at in the company’s Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

The submission will go through several editing processes and a review by expert consultants to ensure it meets Government requirements and canvasses all key issues the group believe should be examined.

Last Friday, Moreton Resources notified the ASX it had lodged an application for a Mining Licence with the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.

The application will trigger the start of a process during which the local community will have opportunities for input into issues surrounding the proposal that it believes deserve attention.

The KCCG announced their plan to develop a formal submission at their Annual General Meeting held at Kingaroy Town Common Hall on Tuesday night, which was attended by about 50 people.

The group also launched a KCCG website and a 12 minute video (further below) at the meeting, which saw Gary Tessmann re-elected president, Damien O’Sullivan vice-president, Marilyn Stephens secretary, and John Dalton public relations spokesman.

At the meeting, Mr Dalton warned that apathy and complacency were the two biggest risks the Kingaroy community faced in relation to the project.

A common belief the coal mine would not go ahead because it was a clearly uneconomic project which posed a danger to local water supplies, residents’ health and property values was unwise, Mr Dalton said.

Many poorly-designed and unviable mining projects around Australia had been given the go-ahead in the past, and to date no mining project had ever been rejected on purely environmental grounds.

An equally common belief the KCCG had the matter in hand was also dangerous, because the Government was more likely to pay attention to objections if it could be shown that concerns about the project were spread outside a single group.

At the meeting, president Gary Tessmann thanked supporters who had donated $9000 to the KCCG’s campaign against the mine, as well as the 900 locals who’d turned out to two public meetings in Kingaroy this year to express their opposition to the proposal.

He also thanked Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington, Member for Maranoa David Littleproud, South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell and his fellow Councillors for expressing their own opposition to the project; fellow KCCG committee members for their hard work over the previous year; and the media for its extensive coverage of the issue.

Mrs Frecklington, who chaired the AGM, thanked Gary Tessmann for his own work as KCCG president, as well as local residents who had supported the group’s efforts and signed a petition against the mine.

She continued to believe Moreton Resources’ plans for the open cut mine were pointless once Stanwell made it known they would not be in the market for its coal; and said Member for Maranoa David Littleproud, who had sent an apology for being unable to attend the AGM because Federal Parliament is in session, held the same view.

“It’s no secret I do not get on well with (Moreton Executive Chairman) Jason Elks, and he is not responding to my correspondence, but he’s not going away so we need to press on,” Mrs Frecklington said.

The KCCG will now begin the process of assembling the group’s submission on the Draft Terms of Reference for an Environmental Impact Statement for the project, which must be submitted by November 14.

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Knitting Nannas spokesperson Rosemary Pratt is urging local residents to sign a petition against the proposed Kingaroy Coal Mine in the next two weeks

Last Chance To Sign Petition

South Burnett residents who’d like to express their opposition to Moreton Resources’ proposed open cut coal mine near Kingaroy only have two more weeks to register their views.

A petition against the mine organised by the Knitting Nannas, which now has over 1000 signatures, will be presented to Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington early next month.

Mrs Frecklington hopes to table the petition at the final sittings of State Parliament for the year.

Knitting Nannas spokesperson Rosemary Pratt said she was pleased with the number of signatures already on the petition, but would like to see many more.

People who’d like to sign it can do so at Kingaroy Office Works in Haly Street, the Haly Street Butchery or the Home Butcher Shop immediately next to it.

Rosemary also has a regular stand at the Seeds Of Hope Markets held in Glendon Street opposite Kingaroy Shoppingworld every Thursday.

Apart from the petition, the stand has “No Kingaroy Coal Mine” signs available for a small fee, with all proceeds going to the KCCG’s ongoing campaign against the project.

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Video: Kingaroy Coal Mine

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2 Responses to "KCCG To Make Mine Submission"

  1. Inevitably any decision regarding mining in the South Burnett must come down to employment, development and a prosperous future of the region. Farming will never employ in numbers to offset a growing population, the unemployed, or develop the new industry so lacking in the South Burnett. That is now the domain of industrialization and a blend of new and old technologies that can produce the jobs and industries that will not only provide employment but drive this shire into the twenty-first century.

    A rail connection to move rural produce and processed goods to ports whilst deliver raw materials to processing plants and manufacturing industries is a must for any future development if this area is to meet it’s true potential. Farming will always have its place but times change and so must we, or change will be thrust upon us by desperation and a realization of a future lost to an entire generation. It’s time to allow those changes that drive growth employment and wealth for the region that only industrialization can bring.

    Reply

  2. If the proposed coal mine doesn’t go ahead, what is on the table in relation to giving the South Burnett a much-needed boost?

    Reply

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