Posted by Jim on August 22, 2011
Good luck on Thursday, Drew.
There is no doubt about the immorality of CSG extraction and coalmining on productive land and in people’s homes, but the laws are not geared towards what is best for Australia’s food security, nor what is best for the aquifers and the Great Artesian Basin, nor for the atmosphere as methane leaks, nor for the destruction of family lives and the peace of communities. On these grounds alone you have an absolute reasonable excuse.
The work you have done for the farmers and communities of the Darling Downs is sowing seeds across the country sustained by your’s and the farmers’ courage to stand up against multi-nationals and Australian companies out for a fast buck whatever the damage they do.
Drew, you should be proud of what you have achieved for all of us in bringing the pernicious industrialisation of our land and its resources to the public consciousness. I am!
Jim McDonald
Wide Bay Greens Spokesperson
Posted by Jim on March 23, 2011
I am not a resident of the Kin Kin district. I live in Noosa. Indeed, I am the Greens candidate for Noosa in the next State election, which might be sooner rather than next year. Even though Kin Kin is outside my electorate, I would like you to know that we will continue to assist the community in its campaign against the expansion of the quarry at Shepperson’s Lane.
The proposition that there should be any large quarry in this district is contrary to the interests of all those who live in Kin Kin and those of us for whom it is a valuable part of our geography and environment. The Premier when she had responsibility for planning refused a permit for a very large resort on the grounds that it would destroy the village and rural amenity of the district. That a large industrial quarry should be contemplated, close to the centre of Kin Kin with 40 tonne trucks terrifying every other motorist on the small country roads that link Kin Kin to the rest of the Sunshine Coast, the Cooloola and the Bruce Highway, has even less merit.
I have encountered a quarry truck while driving in the opposite direction on the Range Road so I know first hand the reality of the danger they pose to every other motorist: there is absolutely no margin for error. And that represents a serious danger to every other road user and especially to a bus full of Kin Kin’s children. To my mind this indicates that the quarry can never satisfy the haulage requirements for quarries let alone the moral issues of protecting children and preserving the peaceful environment of Kin Kin.
The roads already have maintenance requirements. If you want to see what these heavy vehicles do to the rural roads in our region, travel along the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road or Moy Pocket Road. I use Eumundi-Kenilworth Road often and each time I do, the road is chopped up further. So, the danger represented by encountering large quarry trucks will be exacerbated by the poor condition of roads damaged by equipment they were never designed for, creating further dangerous conditions, even if you are fortunate enough not to encounter one of those haulage trucks bearing down on you.
I used the word, “moral”. I did not introduce it lightly. What strikes me about how government and operators approach coalmining, coal seam gas extraction and quarrying is the degree to which they will ride roughshod over communities and individuals. It is unacceptable, anti-social and damaging behaviour: it is unethical.
Jim McDonald, Comment on In Kin Kin, 23 March 2011
Posted by Jim on January 11, 2011
Greens leader, Sen. Bob Brown, has written to Greens members urging them to contribute to the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal:
Dear friend,
The tragic loss of life in the Queensland floods, as well as the shocking images of besieged cities, evacuated suburbs, homes and cars swept away and farms ruined, leaves us luckier Australians asking how we can help.
Please join with me in giving to the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal by clicking here.
Whatever you do, don’t delay, the need is now.
Thank you for your generosity,
Bob Brown
(on behalf of the Australian Greens)
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay Federal Electorate, 11 January 2011
Posted by Jim on January 10, 2011
In this extraordinary weather, our thoughts go to the residents of Maryborough and Gympie and all the hamlets and villages in the Mary River Valley who have been affected by the deluge and the floods.
Mary River at 18 metres looking towards Gympie CBD over Kidd Bridge (submerged), 10 January 2011, reproduced with permission
We hope that your homes stay intact, undamaged and free from the water, and that you and your families see the through the disaster safely.
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay Federal Electorate, 10 January 2011
Posted by Jim on December 25, 2010
Wide Bay Greens wishes all our readers a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2011
Mary River at Tiaro, Photo Jim McDonald
May the New Year see the Mary River system, its communities, and its wildlife protected from coal mining and coal seam gas extraction forever.
Jim McDonald
Posted by Jim on December 20, 2010
The effects of irreversible environmental damage are just one of the factors in the battle against the excesses of the coalmining industry. Top quality farming land faces devastation by coalmining or CSG extraction and that of course has been the focus of the campaigns against coalmining and its expansion.
To my mind, it is not only the environmental vandalism that is evident in the Hunter Valley, for example, but it is also the absence of Federal and State food security policies that is the most shocking context of this impetus to expand mining and extraction into productive land in the Hunter Valley [agricultural productivity is already decimated], the Liverpool Plains and the Darling Downs. I am outraged that any Australian Government allows foreign companies owned by foreign governments [Shinghua 67% by PRC] or any mining company to buy up agricultural land for mining and CSG extraction.
I am equally outraged that they allow the sale of top quality agricultural land land to foreign companies owned by foreign governments whose mission statements refer to the food security of the foreign country [Hassad Foods & Qatar]. Australia is allowing foreign governments to purchase Australian land for their food security? In the absence of a food security policy – let alone a strategy – for Australia! That is a betrayal of Australia and future generations of Australians.
The campaign against coal needs to shift gears and address the failure of food security planning as a matter of urgency while the Labor Party and the Coalition are failing the nation and its grandchildren. Indeed I would argue that the campaign against coalmining and coal seam gas should also adopt the discourse of betrayal of our national interest. Even though there has been much made of the nonsensical proposition of allowing mining of top agricultural land, it might be seen as been a matter of self-interest on the part of farmers by an un-engaged city audience.
The failure of planners to take account of the impact of alienating productive land is a long-standing problem on the verges of urban expansion with the disappearance of large market garden areas around our cities and towns. It doesn’t only happen in the capitals: it happens in regional cities such as Toowoomba.
The food security policy vacuum is locked into the other two major issues of our time and for the next generation [ie to 2030] and the next [to 2050]: population and climate change. The population grows as we see the prospect of productive land diminished by Greed, Coal and CSG. The best agricultural land must be preserved to feed our rapidly growing population, especially in the face of shifting climate characteristics and extended and more severe weather events. But governments are sitting on their thumbs.
Take the Queensland Government, for example. It now owns the agricultural land in the upper Mary River Valley while coalminers plan open cut pits along the river’s major tributaries and the river itself. What does the Bligh Government do about planning food security for South-East Queensland and in particular, what does it do about the land it ill-advisedly purchased for the Traveston Dam? It has run a food cropping land “inquiry” that does not specifically address food security nor specifically address the best use of the land it now owns and it can’t re-sell to the farmers it pushed off the land. Is there a panel of agricultural scientists, environmental experts, and the local community nutting out a model plan for food security in the Mary Valley and planning for climate change? Forget it!
Jim McDonald, Greens Wide Bay Spokesperson, 20/12/10
Posted by Jim on
Jim McDonald was recently interviewed on Noosa Community Radio about the coalmining exploration in the Wide Bay and north Sunshine Coast and the possibility of further exploration in Sunshine Coast.
Listen to the interview here 
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay Federal Electorate, 18/12/10
Posted by Jim on October 29, 2010
Wide Bay Greens spokesperson, Jim McDonald, was interviewed this week on Noosa Community Radio about a number of issues in the Wide Bay Sunshine Coast regions.
He referred to the Greens’ fishing policy which addresses the sustainability of the Australian commercial fishing industry and recreational fishing. He has expressed concerns previously about the media’s uncritical reporting of continual industry and political misrepresentation of the Greens’ policy. For example, the Noosa Journal recently failed to publish a rebuttal by Jim to a letter to the editor alleging that the Greens planned to ban all fishing. He pulls no punches in this interview 
.
Jim also talked about the implications of a lack of vision for the Mary Valley within the other political parties. It is an urgent issue as a matter of the national interest that needs to be addressed as part of a national food security strategy. None presently exists. The future of the Mary Valley is an issue that he addressed during the election campaign and he has recently raised the issue again in response to comments on the Mary Valley by Nicklin MP, Peter Wellington. This interview can be heard here 
.
During the election campaign, Jim was very active in supporting the Aldershot community against the open-cut coalmine Northern Energy Corporation proposes to be dug within a few kilometres of the town. He has continued his support for the community since being appointed the spokesperson for the Federal electorate of Wide Bay. This interview discusses several aspects of the development of coalmining in the region from Wolvi to Aldershot, along the Mary River at Munna Creek, Tiaro and Aldershot and in the Rainbow Beach – Tin Can Bay hinterland. Listen to the interview here .
He was also asked to comment on the Moy Pocket Quarry’s plans to become a central depot for explosives in the region. The Greens made a submission to Gympie Council opposing the project. This was reported on this website in August. The interview is recorded on the Noosa Community website here
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay Federal Electorate, 29 October 2010
Posted by Jim on August 27, 2010
Wide Bay Greens have thrown their weight in behind protests over the proposed large scale explosives facility planned for the Sunshine Coast Quarry location.
Just as we have in Kin Kin, we have inadequate roads. The Moy Pocket situation already has high volume heavy haulage traffic that renders a tourist route along Eumundi-Kenilworth Road dangerous, and dangerous too, for school bus traffic. The situation is worse on Moy Pocket Road where the quarry is located because the road is narrower than Eumundi-Kenilworth Road.
We have concerns which others have raised regarding the integrity of the habitat on Kenilworth Bluff and maintaining the visual heritage of the bluff. We note that the quarry owner has previously not applied for government permits to clear remnant forest, and the then manager threatened to bulldoze extensive areas of forested land the company owned on Kenilworth Bluff. “and turn this into the biggest eyesore you’ve ever seen”.
As a regular user of the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road, it seems to me that it would be a planning absurdity for the Gympie Regional Council to approve the development of a large explosives magazine adjacent to the Sunshine Coast Quarry.
The reasons why access along Eumundi-Kenilworth Road and Moy Pocket Road is problematic for the forecast transportation of explosives are:
- Eumundi-Kenilworth Road is a tourist road;
- Eumundi-Kenilworth Road is a school bus route;
- Eumundi-Kenilworth Road already has high volume heavy haulage traffic;
- Moy Pocket Road between the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road junction and the quarry includes a single lane bridge;
- Moy Pocket Road between the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road junction and the quarry is narrower than Eumundi-Kenilworth Road;
- Moy Pocket Road is a school bus route;
- There is a school bus route that turns on and off Moy Pocket Road near the quarry;
- Moy Pocket Road north of the quarry is sub-standard.
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Jim on August 1, 2010
The Federal member, Mr Truss, has so far failed to voice his considered opinion on a range of issues that would impact on the economy, the social fabric, the environmental health, and the lifestyle of the population in the Wide Bay electorate.
Central to all of these concerns is the health of the Mary River. The Mary River is an iconic artery that runs through the electorate and there are many issues that could have detrimental impacts on river flows, the estuarine areas, and the Great Sandy Straits. The flow of the Mary River is integral to the health of the seagrass fields in the heritage protected Great Sandy wetlands.
Just as the region is recovering from the Traveston Dam debacle, the Mary River faces threats from three massive open-cut coal mines alongside the Susan River tributary near Aldershot, at Tiaro, and Munna Creek. In addition, the State Government proposes to divert water from the Mary River.
Munna Creek in Wide Bay electorate flows into Mary River Photo: Jim McDonald
Would Mr Truss support the Federal Government rejecting State Government plans to transfer water from the Mary River to Brisbane by applying the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in a Coalition Government?
When is he going to stand up for the residents of Aldershot, and come out in opposition to plans to discharge coalmine waste-water into the river system, which might affect fisheries and the Great Sandy Strait?
Mr Truss has had a lot to say about bridges in the lead-up to the election, but we are yet to hear his views on the risks to the river of proposed bridges over the Mary River at Traveston Crossing, which is planned to follow the approximate line of the former proposed dam wall, and Coles Creek?
It is incontestable that waste water from coalmines, the groundwater effects on the Susan River of the Colton Coal Mine, and State Government water diversion will harm the environmental flows in the Mary River, affecting the marine environment in Hervey Bay and the Sandy Straits, and the tourist and fishing industries. The health of the Mary River is not something a responsible Member could remain silent about.
Letter published Gympie Times, Saturday, 31 July 2010
We acknowledge and respect the traditional owners of this country and the land on which we stand