Yesterday’s accident at Arrow Energy’s gas well near Dalby, where a coal seam gas well exploded, is another incident which should tell the Bligh Government to suspend coal seam gas extraction [CSG] in Queensland immediately.
Coal seam gas exploration wells have been drilled in the Mary Valley near Munna Creek not far from Gympie. We suspect that exploration drilling along the Coondoo Creek near Wolvi is likewise for CSG.
CSG extraction is highly risky for health, water resources and farm production as we have seen in Gaslands, 4Corners and in events on the Darling Downs, such as the fourth well explosion at Arrow Energy near Dalby:
CSG well blow-out near Dalby
Greens leader, Bob Brown, last year criticised the Federal Government for not considering the impacts of CSG on prime food producing land.
The Mary Valley, Darling Downs and the South Burnett are all rich food producing areas that must be protected.
In calling for a moratorium on CSG – a principle that must apply to the intentions of coal miners to turn the Mary Valley into a Queensland version of the environmentally damaged Hunter Valley – Bob Brown said the Australian Greens will move to amend federal laws to add climate and coal seam gas triggers to the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act, so the cumulative impacts of this new industry are properly considered before approval is given.
With Queensland Green Senator-elect, Larissa Waters, due to take her seat in a few weeks together with a number of other new Greens senators, the Greens will be in a position to strengthen calls to suspend CSG extraction. Meanwhile, Wide Bay Federal MP and leader of the National Party remains silent about protecting the Mary Valley from coalmining and CSG. Likewise there is deafening silence from Gympie State MP, David Gibson, who actually voted against a moratorium in the State parliament on 24 November last year, voting with the Bligh Labor Government [see Hansard for 24 November, p. 4287]. This is what Mr Gibson voted for:
That this House:
• notes that the CSG industry has been operating successfully in Queensland for at least 10 years;
• acknowledges the extensive laws and regulations that the CSG industry is now subject to in Queensland;
• recognises the substantial benefits that will accrue to rural and regional Queensland from the development of this industry;
• supports the ongoing development of a sustainable CSG/LNG industry in Queensland; and
• supports the adaptive management regime in place to ensure the ongoing monitoring of the environment.
It was a sell-out of the farming sector, rural communities the environment, the Artesian Basin and our grandchildren’s future. Mr Gibson, who made a speech in Parliament opposing the Traveston Dam, by his silence does not seem to think that coalmining and CSG extraction will be as damaging – if not more so – to the Mary River as the proposed dam.
The Greens opposed Traveston Dam and Bob Brown articulated the Greens’ concerns about the degradation of the river that would have occurred from the dam. His comments apply equally to mining along the Mary River and its tributaries:
For more on coal and coal seam gas visit Action on Coal and Gas,a project of the Rural and regional Greens.
Jim McDonald, Wide Bay Greens spokesperson, 24 May 2011
An alert Maryborough member has drawn attention to the announcement of a new coal exploration permit in the Mary Valley, 25 kilometres south of Maryborough, east of the Bruce Highway, by Scorpion Energy Pty Ltd. Scorpion Energy was established only 18 months ago and presently only has a one page web presence without any content.
The continued allocation of coal exploration permits in the Mary Valley by the Queensland Government shows scant regard for the environmental values of the Mary Valley – values which the Federal Government endorsed when it refused the Bligh Government’s planned dam at Traveston. This is the sixth exploration permit in the Mary Valley that the Queensland Minister for mining has issued.
The National Party opposed Traveston Dam and supported the environmental arguments against its construction. Why are Warren Truss, the Nationals’ Federal member for Wide Bay and David Gibson, the LNP State member for Gympie, silent on coal mining and coal seam gas, which Tiaro Coal Corporation plans to develop along Munna Creek, which will do vast damage to the ecology of the Mary River and the Mary Valley? Are the Nationals and LNP compromised by their links with the coal industry?
The silence of the Nationals is a true indication of how committed to the environmental values of the Mary Valley they really are.
Greens leader, Bob Brown, supporting the community in opposing Traveston Dam.
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
The announcement last week of the extent of coal deposits at Munna Creek along the Mary Valley represents one more threat to the environment integrity of the Mary River system. After years of threat to the River from the Queensland Government’s Traveston Dam proposal, the threat to the world heritage wetlands at the mouth of the Mary River from the Colston coalmine application, and the Queensland Government plans to pipe water from the Mary River any way, the River now faces threats from open-cut mines at Munna Creek and Tiaro. These are two different coal exploration areas granted to Tiaro Coal Corporation. A third is located in the Tin Can Bay – Rainbow Beach hinterland.
The Munna Creek – Tiaro developments on top of the emergence during the Federal election campaign of the Colton Coal Mine issue represents an escalation of a campaign to protect our region from being turned into a Queensland version of the Hunter Valley, which is disastrous for public health as well as the environment. The Colton Coal Mine is an open-cut mine planned by Northern Energy Corporation a mere couple of kilometres from the Aldershot township just outside Maryborough. That mine is planned to expand into an area drained by the Susan River, which flows directly into the Mary River estuary and the Great Sandy wetlands reserve.
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay electorate, 27 September 2010
The Government neglect of health in the Wide Bay electorate was one of the key issues in the Greens campaign and nowhere was this more evident than the long and arduous trips public patients have to make for treatment and tests. In some cases, these journeys are round trips of between 450 and 500 kilometres.
The Fraser Coast Chronicle ignored media releases on this issue even when Jim McDonald submitted a media release on the trips that Maryborough dialysis patients had to make to Gympie for treatment. Two days after the media release The Fraser Coast Chronicle published its own story ignoring the policy issues raised by the Greens. The release was published as a letter in The Gympie Times on 26 June 2010. The Gympie Times had published the original story on this neglect of dialysis patients in Maryborough.
We are pleased to report that the Queensland Health Minister,Paul Lucas, has now announced that $5 million will go towards six new renal dialysis chairs at Maryborough hospital.
Not before time. But this is a patchwork effort. Health reform in Wide Bay needs a holistic approach and so far there is little more than rhetoric and catch-up on health issues evident in the electorate. Let’s hope that the Federal Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, can get quickly onto regional health issues in general and the unsatisfactory position in Wide Bay.
The Federal Health Minister might have some sympathy in her considerations for the fact that Maryborough Hospital no longer has a maternity ward and expectant mothers are required to travel to Hervey Bay. This is ludicrous treatment of the people of Maryborough. Reform should ensure that regional cities have proper health facilities. The Queensland Minister’s statement shows no recognition of the importance of comprehensive local hospital services for the city.
Jim McDonald, Greens spokesperson, Wide Bay electorate, 12 September 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.
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.
The Queensland Government’s proposed sale of Queensland’s railways to the coal industry will be the death knell for passenger rail services in regional Queensland, says Jim McDonald, the Greens’ candidate for Wide Bay.
“High speed rail for both freight and passenger services should be an essential element in State Government climate change and population planning. A coal cartel will ruin the future of our rail system if Anna Bligh and Andrew Fraser get their way.
“The Brisbane – Cairns route needs a rapid rail system as much as the Melbourne – Brisbane corridor, especially for the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay, to service a rapidly growing population and take trucks and passengers off the Bruce Highway.
“Federal and State Governments need to take serious steps to develop a standard gauge system in Queensland that will deliver frequent, rapid passenger and freight services to Maryborough, Gympie and the Sunshine Coast. Queensland lags the rest of the world in efficient rail transport because of the limitations of its narrow gauge rail system.
“The State Government should investigate selling off part of the rail easements to private interests to fund modernisation of the rail services that belong to the Queensland taxpayer. Instead, under Ms Bligh’s and Mr Fraser’s plan, passenger timetables will be affected by the coal industry’s priorities.
“The Government’s focus should be on fast rail, which will be an economic boon to the region in a low carbon future. A fast train plan could provide hundreds of jobs in Maryborough and Gympie if the State Government had a commitment to regional development and ensured that the rolling stock continued to be manufactured in Maryborough, instead of exporting the industry to China.
“High speed access to South-East Queensland markets will do as much to stimulate local industries and small business as the National Broadband Network.”
Dr McDonald said that the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese should include South-East Queensland and EDI Rail in the feasibility study for high speed rail.
“This is what the Greens mean by green jobs. Rail will always be more efficient and less polluting than motor vehicles. And it would provide jobs in the region. We need to think beyond existing frameworks. A high speed rail system would form a significant component of a low carbon economy in the region.”
There will be two meet-the-candidates sessions in the southern part of the electorate next week on Tuesday 10 August and Thursday 12 August. The first, organised by the Cooroy Chamber of Commerce, will be held at the Cooroy Hotel as follows:
Meet the Candidates evening
5.30pm for a 6.00pm start
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Cooroy Chamber of Commerce
Cooroy Hotel
38 Maple Street, Cooroy
Entry is free
The second occasion where voters can meet the candidates is organised by the Noosa Residents and Ratepayers Association. This event will be held at the Noosa Heads Bowls Club in Lanyana Way Noosa Heads.
Meet the candidates
6.45pm
Thursday 12 August 2010
Noosa Residents and Ratepayers Association
Noosa Heads Bowls Club,
Lanyana Way,
Noosa Heads
So far, there are no arrangements for similar opportunities for voters in the other major towns of Wide Bay. This is unfortunate as the 2010 election is one of the most important in recent times.
Jim McDonald, Greens Candidate for Wide Bay, 4 August 2010
I refer to your article, “Still fighting for Mary River” [Gympie Times, 17 July 2010], which refers to State Government plans to harvest water from the river.
The Mary River also faces major threats from coal mines at Munna Creek and along the river near Tiaro. Closer to the mouth of the Mary, the estuary faces the risks of pollution from a coal mine planned along the Susan River that flows into the Mary River estuary.
What the Mary River needs is a concerted clean-up of water quality. Instead we see more talk of measures that will further degrade the river.
I have written to the federal Environment Minister to intervene in the Colton Coal Mine proposed near the Susan River, but with the timing of the Federal election we fear that the State Government and the miners will proceed with approvals that will change the ecology of the Mary River forever.
I refer to the article on the greater chance of patients dying prematurely from cancer in the region than Brisbane patients [Fraser Coast Chronicle, 12 July 2010].
The Federal Government has distributed funding for cancer centres in marginal seats. Thus the Wide Bay electorate missed out on an upgrade to cancer treatment – politics before cancer services.
The former Prime Minister called changes to health funding a health revolution. If it was a revolution it has bypassed our region.
There is an urgent need for a review of health services in the Wide Bay electorate. Maryborough and Gympie hospitals need upgrading and funding for public patients in Noosa Hospital increased. Pressure on one hospital is pressure on all of them.
The fact that dialysis patients in Maryborough have to travel to Gympie indicates a shameful breakdown in health services in the region.
The Greens call for a proper caring approach from the Federal Government to the health of Australians in the region.
Jim McDonald
Greens candidate
Wide Bay Electorate
Letter, Fraser Coast Chronicle, Published 14 July 2010
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"No world leader can ignore the planet's population burden. There were 3 billion people when Kevin Rudd was born. There are 6.8 billion now. There will be 9 billion by mid-century. This population boom is not economic wisdom, it is a recipe for planetary exhaustion and great human tragedy."
Bob Brown, September 2009
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We would love to hear from you, what YOU consider our priorities should be to ensure our communities remain special and sustainable. Please feel welcome to contact our convenor Steve Haines directly at steve@widebaygreens.org or mobile 0421 00 1956.
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