Stale Fracking Bill Shows Barnett has Learned Nothing
Thursday 9th May 2013
WA Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region and spokesperson on Mining and Energy, Robin Chapple MLC, has today slammed the Barnett-Grylls Government’s reintroduction of last year’s lapsed Canning Basin development Bill, which enshrines their deal with Buru Energy and Mitsubishi.
“There’s a stink emanating from this newly-installed government – and it’s the malodorous stench of rotten gas associated with its latest fracking proposals.
“I had hoped the resounding backlash by Kimberley voters against inappropriate Kimberley development, plus the implications of the decision by Woodside to step back from the James Price Point project, would have given the Premier a much-needed fresh perspective on the needs of this region.
“Unfortunately, it seems nothing has changed, and it’s clear the next four years will only see a renewed pig-headedness to pursue this type of flawed project.
“I am deeply disturbed at Mr Barnett’s constant deal-making with mining companies and his scant regard for the natural environment and Indigenous heritage, which have already been compromised as a result of the careless actions of Buru and Mitsubishi Corporation.”
“Evidence from around the world shows that fracking is an undesirable practice at the best of times – let alone in some of the last remaining pristine wilderness areas of the Kimberley.
“If ever brought on-stream, this project would cause huge increases in WA’s greenhouse gas emissions, with a resultant flow-on to dangerous climate change.
“The Greens have shown the way on replacing outdated fossil fuels by renewables with our Energy 2029 report – and it’s high time the government got on board.
Government Slow to act on Long-Running Health Risk from Lead in Northampton
Greens WA spokesperson on mining, Robin Chapple MLC, today commended the state government on its decision to carry out testing for lead pollution around homes in Northampton.
“I take this announcement at face-value, in the hope that it signals a speedy and thorough process whereby any lingering doubts over the risk to the health of the people of Northampton are finally resolved,” Mr Chapple said.
“Unfortunately, the track record in WA on this very toxic material is not great – the community will be remembering the fiasco of the supposed lead ‘clean-up’ in Esperance and the follow-up which was required.
“Then there was the Magellan lead ‘sealed’ bags incident in Fremantle. Western Australians have reason to be skeptical when it comes to government assurances in these matters.
“There are deeply disturbing echoes of Wittenoom in this latest revelation from Northampton. How many other communities around the state have been unwittingly spreading this sort of toxic waste in their gardens, on their driveways, playgrounds and schoolyards?
“The time has come for the government to look seriously at holding an urgent investigation into the potential for other towns to be at similar risk – it’s just not good enough to wait for these instances to work their way into the public spotlight.
“Time and again we find examples of resource projects being given the go-ahead with scandalously insufficient provision being made for the rehabilitation of the abandoned site which is inevitably left behind when the proponents move on.
“Lead from Northampton found its way into bullets used in the Boer War – in this time of national reflection on the follies of war, let us spare a thought for the innocent civilian victims of lead mining”, Mr Chapple concluded.
Greens WA spokesperson on Mining, Robin Chapple MLC, today lamented the actions of the Barnett government in yet again riding roughshod over the interests of farmers in the Mid-West region.
“On the very day when WA’s peak farming bodies have accused Premier Barnett of taking cheap shots and talking rubbish, I am astonished to find him talking up the Karara magnetite project and rolling out the welcome mat with a massive royalty rebate”, Mr Chapple fumed.
“Here is a project which pinches massive amounts of good underground water – the farmers’ lifeblood – for its own purposes and renders it useless for farming”.
“Worse – it introduces the very real possibility of disastrous heavy metal leaching into what remains of this region’s groundwater”, he said.
“Our farmers are crying out for real financial assistance – and got nothing from the Premier’s recent sojourn in the wheatbelt. Here we have a 67% overseas-owned company being gifted a 50% royalty rebate, in the hope that the Premier’s pet Oakajee port might get a bit of a boost”.
“Farmers throughout WA will be left scratching their heads at this government’s sense of priorities”, Mr Chapple continued.
“Royalties are needed to clean up the mess left behind after the miner’s caravan moves on – not for singing toilets in big towns”, said Mr Chapple.
“Premier Barnett was right about one thing he told the farmers – he can’t make it rain. But he can surely be held to account for his failure to rein in the cause of the wheatbelt’s creeping marginality – Climate change - as the result of increasing greenhouse gas emissions”, Mr Chapple concluded.
Robin Chapple MLC, Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, and Greens WA spokesperson for Mining matters, today lamented the all-too-predictable outcome of a failed system, whereby the Central Norseman Gold Corporation (in administration) was slapped on the wrist with a paltry $15,000 fine over the tragic death of the late Mr Rene Ponce while working in its OK mine in 2010.
“Mr Ponce didn’t come home from work that day – his family bears the emotional pain from the “accident” each and every day, a situation which in my view could have been avoided, caused by the conditions which prevailed deep under the ground of WA’s Goldfields on that tragic day”, said Mr Chapple.
“I use quotation marks around “accident”, because this incident was not a random Act of God, it was not unforeseeable, it was all too obviously the end result of a series of failings by the mine’s management. More alarming are the failings of the government agency charged with monitoring and enforcing safety standards for the well-being of the workers who put their lives on the line day-in, day-out, labouring in hazardous mine environments. While we readily accept the economic benefits derived from mining, we have a responsibility to protect the lives of these workers. It may be old-fashioned, but it is still true that because we can’t do this ourselves, we rely on government to oversee these matters for us”, Mr Chapple continued.
“This is where the Barnett/Grylls government through its Minister for Mining & Petroleum, Norman Moore, should hang their heads in shame after reading today’s Kalgoorlie Miner report of the Magistrate’s Court sentencing session.
The Parliamentary record shows that I asked a multitude of questions of the Minister, in the months leading up to this tragedy at the OK mine, in which I attempted to get some accountability for, and some action taken in respect to a range of these safety hazards in this very mine, only to be met with a “shut-up-shop” stonewall from the Minister on 10 August 2010, whereby he refused to accept any more probing into mine safety from me (Leg. Council Question 2516).
This effrontery was perpetrated just five days after Mr Ponce’s death, in what appears to be a callous act of indifference”, Mr Chapple concluded.
Greens (WA) member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC has called on the Barnett/Grylls government to revoke all mining exploration tenements in the proposed new Horizontal Falls National Park and Marine Park area.
“If the Premier is serious about conservation at the Horizontal Falls he needs to ensure there is no mining or exploration in the area that might damage what he has referred to as the ‘pristine environment that surrounds them’, Mr Chapple said.
“As the Premier says, the Horizontal Falls are an ‘internationally-renowned tourist attraction’ in a spectacular natural environment that deserves the highest level of protection.
“This will only be possible if mining is prohibited as, when you examine the proposal, you can see that more than fifty per cent of the land and thirty per cent of the marine area earmarked for inclusion in the park is under mining exploration tenements.
“The tenements belong to a number of companies including Hard Rock Resources, Vertu Investments, Hill 50 Gold Mines, FMG Resources, Cliffs Asia Pacific Iron Ore, Money, Kimminco, Pegasus Metals and Koolan Iron Ore exploring for minerals such as copper and iron ore.
“While the Premier’s announcement mentioned recreational fishing, pearling and tourism continuing in the area he failed to acknowledge that under current arrangements mining interests will continue to exist and be supported by the Government.
“Colin Barnett has called it ‘one of the most significant conservation initiatives in WA history’. It could also be seen as a pre-election ploy to deflect attention from his unpopular and divisive promotion of the destruction of James Price Point,” Mr Chapple said.
Encl: Map of Proposed Horizontal Falls National Park, including Mining Exploration Tenements
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
Greens WA spokesperson on Mining, Robin Chapple MLC, has questioned the motives of the Barnett Government in refusing the two to three-year extension and State Agreement request of mining giants Rio Tinto and Alcoa on a bauxite deposit on the Mitchell Plateau surrounded by national park south-west of Kalumburu.
“While the refusal of this proposal is a positive one and I commend Mr Barnett for making it, it is easy to be cynical on these kinds of statements, especially when made in the lead-up to an election”, said Mr Chapple today.
“Premier Barnett has shown us time and again that he has no intention of protecting environment where big mining industries have an interest, and the environmental reputation of his government is in tatters because of it. He is desperate for some environmental credibility, but recent announcements are too little, too late.
“I’d like to hope we can hold the Premier to his word on this issue, but with James Price Point, the Burrup and so many other environmentally damaging developments under his belt I suspect the Western Australian people should reserve their applause until after the election.”
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
Greens WA spokesperson on Mining, Robin Chapple MLC, has highlighted the duplicity of the Grylls Barnett government for talking up a mining ban over the Horizontal Waterfalls whilst at the same time funding minerals exploration on an adjacent tract of land.
“The Government’s announcement yesterday that it is creating a mining exclusion zone to protect the Horizontal Waterfalls is unconvincing while it is also funding exploration activity on adjacent land,” Mr Chapple said.
“It appears that yesterday’s statement was issued just 24 hours after an announcement that the government’s Royalties for Regions’ Exploration Incentive Scheme will assist Beau Resources Pty Ltd to explore for minerals in the tenement opposite and adjacent to the Horizontal Waterfalls, as shown in the map.
“Add to this that the mining ban is only valid for two years before being reviewed, and it is clear that there are no guarantees of lasting protection for this icon of the north Kimberley,” Mr Chapple said.
Horizontal Waterfalls has been nominated for inclusion on the Register of State Geoheritage Sites.
