Where does this all leave our agricultural industry. We are chewing up prime agricultural land all over Australia. Mining companies are buying up properties that don't even have the mining rights yet. And in the mean time they are paying way above the going rate for the land which is bumping up the price of agricultural land making it impossible for young and new farmers to enter the industry. The banks won't touch new or young farmers for the price asking for the land when we are going to use it for agriculture. When the mines pay so much more young farmers can not get a start. In the future who is going to farm, there are no opportunites for the young and once they leave they will not come back. Also the land has been destroyed and will never return to the same state for farming. When the mining boom ends where does that leave Australian, where will all the exworkers get work, no mines no farms. So what we buy most of our food overseas supporting other countries and not our own. WE YOUNG FARMERS AND EXISTING FARMERS NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO STAND UP FOR US ALL. AUSTRALIA WAS BUILT ON THE BACK OF THE SHEEP AND WHEN MINING ENDS WHAT WILL AUSTRALIA BE BUILT ON. WE ALL NEED TO EAT, IT IS A NECCESITY MAYBE WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT. WE CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT FOOD BUT WE CAN FIND ALTERNATIVES TO COAL AND GAS.

well said Nicole! short term resource sales that destroy sustainable resources is a big mistake for Australia's farming future. Farmers should be assisted with their incredibly tough challenge, not encouraged to sell out or be polluted out of business & left with a worthless farm. Irreversible water table contamination could be the end for much country life. Shouldn't coal seam gas mining & it's secretive poisonous chemical use be closely examined before more damage is done? Thousands of mines already, & that's going to increase drastically unless opposed. i hope we are well informed & learn from the sad examples set by this rapacious industry!

I do not believe that there was enough notification for the submissions. Where were people supposed to learn about this? I and others have only just found out about it this week, a bit late, even with the extended deadline.

There are many people in Australia who do not even know what CSG is, not to mention the many issues involved and how widespread it is. The water issue alone is a huge concern. The way I found out about in Australia was by my brother in Kingaroy telling me about the UCG plant being shut down due to contamination. One of many 'incidents'.

The agricultural issues, the health issues, the environmental issues are being ignored. CSG is neither 'clean, nor green', especially looking at it from cradle to grave viewpoint. Then there are the people who are suffering with it. Some things money just cannot buy or replace once it is gone. What is this 'gas boom' really costing us?

Senator Joyce: On ABC radio this morning I understood you to say that only one submission had been received by the "coal seam gas and mining" enquiry. I checked the Senate website today and saw that there were in fact about 30 new submissions, of which about 10 were from South-East Queensland. Wherever did you get the figure of one submission from?

Nicole: Many of the submissions to this Senate enquiry focus on the same concerns which you have raised. Hang in there.

even 30 submissions represents nearly none of the population potentially severely impacted. in northern NSW hundreds of farmers are locking their gates, & thousands are attending CSG protests (Murwullimbah). probably only because of the warnings from Qld farmers.
100 Billion dollar deals & massive pollution traded for a farming future, & it's up to uninformed individuals to stop it?
that's funny government. tragic .

About half of the 30 or so new submissions to the Senate enquiry are from individuals. The other half are mainly from companies or organizations such as AgForce Queensland, Cotton Australia, and the Australian Lot Feeders' Association.

To view any of the submissions, click on the link in the Media Release and then click on the link called "Submissions Received". The new submissions start at number 206.

I would like to direct you all to a documentary called "Gasland" filmed in the United States. This films documents the disastrous outcomes for rural communities that have been subject to natural gas drilling after signing away access to their land for next to nothing.

Part of the process of extracting the gas is known as hydraulic fracturing. It bascially involves driling and then pumping what are basically a cocktail of chemicals into the ground to fracture the underground structures to release the gas which is then captured. This process contaminates the ground water permanently but also results in above ground contamination or the air and land due to acilliary processes required to extract the gas.

The water table around the drilling rig becomes so contaminated that most bores contain water that is toxic and no longer potable. Water produced from household taps is mixed with gas to the point that it is flammable from the tap. Water for household is trucked in by the gas companies...sometimes.

Coal seam gas extraction is sure to produce a similar disaster for land owners and users in this country. I implore all of us to have the law changed that allows owners to say no to coal seam gas exploration on their land. This country has enough natural gas from other sources and given the clean energy future released by the Gillard government why are we still ramping up for this type of technology.

I don't even live in the country and after watching the documentary I want to ensure this country doesn't go down the same path.

Watch the film, it's called "Gasland", look it up on wikipedia.

Sentor Joyce, go get em!

Thank you for your work on behalf of farming families in Australia.

I know that many rural people feel that they have been abandoned by their political parties. Hopefully some sense can emerge in this whole issue.

I have made formal submission to the Senate inquiry, I also wanted to write to you personally.

As a clinical psychologist I have worked for more than 30 years to improve the mental health of my local rural community in northern NSW. I am very alarmed at the rapidly developing social disruption, depression, anger, violence, and political chaos that the CSG industry appears determined to impose on the Australian people.

Farming families have to do without the services and conveniences of the town and city, and they pay a price in terms of relative disadvantages in health, income, and social isolation. But farming families are compensated for these negatives by their love of their land and being able to work in a rural environment that they protect and develop with their own resources and efforts.

The emotional and psychological impact of the CSG industry’s unrestrained ruining of farming families’ property, lifestyles, and prospects for the future will result in predictable psychological responses. For too many, the loss will lead to anxiety, depression, and other symptoms of mental disorders. Undoubtedly, some will suicide. But not everyone who suffers such losses perpetrated by uncaring others will respond by becoming depressed and withdrawn. Some will respond with anger and violence.

It seems to me that the "elephant in the room" that no one wants to look at is the rapidly developing threat of widespread violence, destruction of mining infrastructure and property, and social and political disruption.

I fear that if the CSG industry is allowed to open up the Northern Rivers area of NSW to CSG mining by building a pipeline over the Border Ranges to Ipswich, many people will not just withdraw and become depressed. Instead, they will become angry and be tempted to vent that anger on CSG equipment and infrastructure.

Do politicians and CSG mining executives really think that they will be able to treat rural people with what will be perceived as callous disregard, and then expect that their millions of dollars of pumps, pipelines, and other equipment will survive unguarded in isolated rural areas?

There are times when governments have to override the rights of individuals for the greater good of the society, but this is not such a time. The CSG industry is like nothing that has ever been seen before in Australia. It is one thing for a local council or government to resume land for a fair compensation, but it is an entirely different situation when the rights of rural landholders and farming families across the country are violated en masse without proper consultation, consideration of their rights, or payment of fair compensation.

Surely “a fair go” means what it has always meant - that “fair and just” compensation be paid to any farming family for the effects of damage to their property, their loss of lifestyle and prospects, and the destruction of their right to the “quiet enjoyment” of the land they bought, pay rates and taxes on, and love. The ultimate costs of ignoring basic standards of equity and fairness for farming families will far outweigh any short-term royalties paid by mining companies.

Thank you again for your efforts on behalf of country people.

I hope that you and other members of the Committee can do something to avoid the years of pain, sorrow and disruption that the uncontrolled CSG industry threatens to inflict on the land we all love.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information or if I can in any way further assist you in your efforts.

Regards,

Wayne Somerville