PROTECTING FARM LAND… Yorke Peninsula Landowners’ Group members Peter Klopp, Lauren Kakoschke, Sarah Klopp, Stephen Lodge, Joy Wundersitz, Brenton Davey and Sue Davey continue fighting for farmers’ rights against mining, and believe the Mining Act could be changed to their detriment.
LOCAL farmers want the impending Mining Act review to ensure better protection for landowners, but they fear it could in fact make it easier for mining companies to access their land.
The review comes after two other state government mining-related initiatives, the Copper Strategy and the Multiple Land Use Framework.
The Mining Act review will go out for public consultation in the near future, right as landowners start harvest. “There is certainly a lot of concern about this review,” farmer and Yorke Peninsula Land Owners’ Group chairperson Stephen Lodge said. “The Copper Strategy, the Multiple Land Use Framework, and this review of the act looks like a strong push to help mining companies access agricultural land. “The Department of State Development has said it won’t get rid of Section 9 of the act, which makes farming land exempt from mining exploration.
“But the government is talking about streamlining the court process and I can’t see that will benefit farmers, only mining companies. “It could be a coincidence this is happening during harvest, but the timing is appalling for farming communities.”
Member for Goyder Steven Griffiths has written to Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis asking him to delay the review until next year, once harvest is finished. Mr Griffiths said he will never support a “relaxing” of farmers’ rights regarding access agreements. “This has never been a suggestion I have been party of discussing, and is a suggestion I will never support if proposed as part of any legislative amendment on what comes from the review,” he said. Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire said the process should be handled by an independent reviewer, rather than government, to ensure the rights of farmers are protected.
“I will keep an open mind but am highly concerned this review will not be fair to farmers,” he said. “The current Mining Act is unfair on farmers and the terms of reference of this review do nothing to redress farming rights.” Mr Brokenshire also renewed his call for a mining ombudsman.
DSD said consultation about the review will be flexible allowing for “reasonable extensions for submissions from key groups”. “There are lots of key stakeholder groups, like our farmers, who we must hear from,” a DSD spokesperson said. The spokesperson said modernising the Mining Act will ensure SA stays a leader in adopting modern and efficient practices for mining and exploration whilst cutting red tape.
“South Australia needs to continue to attract the world’s best mining operators, who understand there can be no compromise on strict environmental compliance and no compromise on building strong long-term relationships of trust with all landowners,” the spokesperson said. Initial public comment can be emailed to DSD.mining actreview@sa.gov.au.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.