Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:53 PM
Barnaby Joyce
National Party Member of the Australian Senate
Canberra, ACT
Dear Barnaby, may I firstly congratulate you you the profile you have attained since being elected.
Sir,
I am providing you with a copy of a letter I have written to appropriate members of State and Federal Governments. If you feel as though I could improve this document in any way I would be happy to hear from you.
'It seems as though the proposed Coal Seam Gas extraction being proposed in New South Wales and Queensland, along with the revenue it will provide whatever Government might be in power, is sufficient enough in itself (following an almost positive review of the Mining Industries contractual arrangements), for any ruling party to give such a project the thumbs-up.
Just think about nuclear energy and how the proponents of this Industry espoused the safety of such plants. Managing a potentially dangerous infrastructure could potentially be perilous for our Wide Brown Land, and it only takes one unpredictable incident to turn a whole industry on its head. No Coal Seam Gas Revenue and negligible Primary production … are you happy should that outcome eventuate? If not, are you content with the fact that you have been elected, and once you retire it is then someone else’s problem?
In Australia's case, tell me who pays for any incident should something go wrong? And please tell me how any mishap might be reversed without consequence to our Primary Production?
The effect of any form of mishap will undoubtedly degrade our inland Gold, our Primary Industries. If revenue continues to flow into Government coffers from Coal Seam Mining at the expense of a major part of our Primary production, then who will be there to wave the flag that hales the death of our wonderful Country west of the divide when this so-called bonanza peters out?
For your interest, here are a number of URL’s to reference.
http://lockthegate.org.au/csg-facts/csg-factsheet.cfm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-30/scientists-issue-warning-on-coal-seam-gas/2861424/?site=newcastle
http://greens.org.au/content/greens-introduce-landholder-rights-coal-seam-gas-bill
http://ntn.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/NTN-Fracking-Briefing-Paper-2011.pdf'.
Yours Sincerely,
John Chipperfield.