GREENS CANDIDATE ANNOUNCES COMMITMENTS FOR RURAL AND REGIONAL QUEENSLAND
Andy Grodecki, Greens Candidate for the seat of Beaudesert joined Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam and Queensland Greens spokesperson Dr Libby Connors in Toowoomba on Monday 2 March 2009 to release a series of policy commitments for regional and rural Queensland as part of the 2009 state election campaign.
Andy Grodecki said “As the managers of the largest proportion of Queensland’s natural and production landscape, farmers should be celebrated, supported and rewarded for the role they play in producing our food and managing our natural resources”.
Senator Ludlam said that the following issues demonstrate the wide-ranging policies of the Queensland Greens who represent all areas of Queensland.
'Farmers in southern Queensland should especially appreciate the commitment to amending the Mineral Resources Act to protect premium agricultural lands from mining leases.
'Given the uncertainties our planet is facing the Greens will not stand by and see rich fertile soils destroyed forever to feed a mine that might last a mere twenty-five years. We are the only party trying to plan for climate change impacts over the next fifty to eighty years,' Senator Ludlam said.
1. Amend the Mineral Resources Act to prevent mining on premium agricultural land. Estimated cost $0; neutral effect on jobs.
2. Construction of two base load 250 megawatt solar power stations in Townsville and the Darling Downs. Estimated cost $2 billion. 4000 jobs construction phase, 400 jobs ongoing.
3. Increased funding for Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service for the management of weed and animal pests, including the capacity to contract the work to neighbouring landholders and community groups. Estimated cost $15 million. Estimated jobs 600 initial phase, 220 jobs ongoing
4. Increase state funding into soil carbon research with funding for cooperative research between DPI and regional university campuses. Estimated cost $45 million dollars. Estimated jobs 100.
5. Increased funding for natural resource management bodies, catchment groups and peak producer groups to cope with the challenges of climate change and innovative sustainability practices. Estimated cost $70 million, estimated jobs 100 over 5 years.
Andy Grodecki said “We visited the ghost town of Acland just North West of Toowoomba that has been taken over by a coal mine. We met with Sid and Marie Plant, two of the few remaining farmers from Acland and heard the death of a small country town and the health impacts from the coal dust. We also heard from the very concerned farmers of Haystack, Fenton and the foothills of the Bunyah Mountain who are facing the likelihood that their top quality soils will also soon be swallowed up by a coal mine or their aquifers drained to supply water for washing of the coal”
“The worrying thing for the Beaudesert electorate is that having large open cut mines in our midst may be soon be a reality for Beaudesert, Bromelton or the Kerry Valley. Preliminary bore surveys have already been done and an exploration investment prospectus has been released to further prove the resource. The report for the exploration proposal identifies 28.8Mt of coal at 12m depth to at least 100m around the Veresdale Scrub area with lower potential reserves in the Bromelton and Kerry Valleys.
Andy Grodecki added, “We need to amend the mining laws and planning regulations to establish the primacy of good quality agricultural land over mining and urban and industrial development.
The Greens would also divert funds from excessive state investment in the unachievable clean coal. This amounted to a drain of $300 million drawn from the Queensland Future Growth Fund in 2008.
'The mining corporations should be funding their own research,' Dr Connors said.
'The Greens view is that it is far more important to channel research and support into agriculture to sustain our regional towns through the crises of climate change and global recession.'
Dr Connors said that the Queensland Greens were committed to maintaining jobs and social infrastructure across the regions and job stimulation and job maintenance were highlights of the commitments.
Dr Connors pointed out that the Greens were committed to stopping the Traveston and Wyaralong Dams which would immediately protect historic and productive farmlands in the Mary and Logan River valleys and make $2.5 billion dollars available to pay for Green commitments across the state.
Further information on the Queensland Greens Food & Agriculture Policy and the exploration for coal at Beaudesert, Kerry and Bromelton is available from Andy Grodecki on grodecki@gil.com.au or 0411 361 044
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