14 August, 2013
Farmers, Residents unite at Supreme Court to rip up Barry O'Farrell's 'Contract With NSW'
At 11.30am today (Wednesday, August 14), betrayed farmers and community members from all over NSW will gather in numbers at the Supreme Court to tear up Barry O'Farrell's “contract with NSW”, furious that the mining industry is given free rein to run roughshod over NSW communities. Community leaders and Alan Jones AO will address the gathering.
This show of community anger comes as the tiny Hunter Valley village of Bulga begins its battle with mining giant Rio Tinto and the NSW Government in the Supreme Court over plans to extend the massive Warkworth open cut coalmine to within a couple of kilometres of the town.
The action at the Supreme Court follows the State Government’s proposal to change the NSW mining State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) to make the economic value of a mine the principal consideration in planning decisions, overriding social and environmental concerns.
This move appears designed to prevent another Bulga decision, in which the Land and Environment Court overturned approval of the Warkworth extension due to its devastating social and environmental impacts.
Rally speaker John Krey from the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association said: "Rio Tinto broke its promise to our community not to extend the mine towards our village in a deed of agreement it signed. Now the government has broken its promise.
"Barry O'Farrell committed in the contract he signed with NSW before the last election to give people a real say on issues affecting their local community, but his government is in court now siding with the miners.
“It is not only unacceptable that a foreign miner such as Rio Tinto will not accept an Australian court decision, it is an insult to the people of NSW that the government is backing the foreign mining company against the local community.
"O’Farrell’s new planning policy to prioritise the economic value of mines will mean communities like ours will be sacrificed for mining — it's as simple as that."
Speaker Penny Blatchford, a cotton farmer and chair of the Bellata Gurley Action Group Against Gas on the Moree Plains, said: "The proposed changes will mean the most productive agricultural land in NSW can be torn up for coal or gas mining regardless of the impacts on farming.
"These planning changes aren’t about getting the balance right, they are about swinging it back towards the mining companies at the expense of rural industries.”
Speaker Craig Shaw, a farmer from the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance in Central West NSW, said: "After two years of announcements by the government claiming to protect agricultural land, water and landholders’ rights, this new planning policy would almost certainly undo every commitment previously made.”
Speaker Julie Lyford, from Gloucester in the Upper Hunter, said, "The O'Farrell Government was elected on a promise to return planning powers to local communities, but our community is facing two coal mines and a huge coal seam gas development within kilometres of our town, and we have no power to stop it.
"The government's recent announcement of changes to its mining planning policy will only make it harder for local communities to challenge the merits of mining applications.
“Communities already under extreme pressure from mining will have their voices silenced.
“We are all calling on the NSW Government to re-commit to its pre-election promises in its ‘contract with NSW’ and put communities before coal and gas.”
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