Farmers Kicked in the Guts Again by Barnett
Tuesday 9 April 2013
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.
