PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEE ON LAND ACCESS BY RESOURCE COMPANIES
CALL FOR PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS – closing date Friday 30th April 2021
A Message from Fraser Ellis, Member of the Land Access Select Committee
Valued Yorke Peninsula Land Owners’ Group members,
I write to inform you on the formation of the Select Committee to inquire into Land Access regimes in South Australia – an issue which you would be well aware has been of critical importance to our community in Narungga and one I have taken a particular interest in throughout my time in parliament. It is an honour to serve on this Select Committee and I direct you to the Inquiry’s terms of reference and urge participation via the lodging of a submission by the closure date of COB Friday 30 April 2021. We need to demonstrate how the agricultural community expects the future of land access frameworks to be developed and your input is vitally important.
Please give me a buzz if you’d like to chat about it and I am looking forward to participating in this committee and its work.”
Fraser Ellis MP
Member for Narungga
37 Graves Street, Kadina – (08) 8832 2455
Land Access Select Committee Terms of Reference
To inquire into and report on:
- Land access regimes as they relate to mining and mining exploration under the Mining Act 1971, the Opal Mining Act 1995 and the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000;
- Such operations of the Department for Energy and Mining as may relate to, or be affected by, land access regimes;
- The practices of interstate and overseas jurisdictions as they relate to balancing the rights of landowners and those seeking to access land in order to explore for or exploit minerals, precious stones or regulated substances;
- Administrative and legislative options that may help achieve a best practice model in South Australia that balances the rights of landowners and those seeking to access land to explore for or exploit minerals, precious stones or regulated substances;
- Measures that should be implemented to achieve a best practice model in South Australia that balances the rights of landowners and those seeking to access land to explore for or exploit minerals, precious stones or regulated substances (to the extent that such measures are not being addressed through existing programs or initiatives); and
- Any other related matter.
How to lodge a submission
- Any person or organisation wishing to make a submission to the Committee should do so by COB Friday 30 April 2021.
- Written submissions should be addressed to the Parliamentary Officer, Select Committee on Land Access, GPO Box 572, Adelaide 5000, or email to: SCLA@parliament.sa.gov.au
- All submissions will be made publicly available unless otherwise determined by the Committee.
- Further information about the Committee can be found on the Committee’s website at: http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au Telephone enquiries: (08) 8237 9442
- Committee Members info
A message from YPLOG Committee
We strongly urge you to lodge a submission. We need as many landowners as possible to let the Select Committee know that farmers are not happy with the current land access regime that makes it easy for resource companies to access agricultural land.
Your submission doesn’t have to be detailed or address all the Terms of Reference. Simply stating your concerns and what you would like done about it will send a clear message to the Committee that a new approach to land access is needed.
It is encouraging that three of the six members of the Select Committee – Geoff Brock (chair), Fraser Ellis and Steve Murray –supported farmers by voting against the Government’s Mining Bill in late 2019. We are therefore confident that this time, our views may be heard and acted upon.
This could be our last chance to lobby for meaningful changes to the land access regimes governing resource company access to Yorke Peninsula’s valuable cropping land.
If you would like further information or advice re lodging a submission, please call YPLOG on 0487 431366.