The South Australian Rann Labor Government and the Liberal Party Opposition have voted together to reject a Greens bid to stop mining in the state's sanctuaries.
Greens MP Mark Parnell says he will reintroduce the bill in another form, to stop mining specifically in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the northern Flinders Ranges.
This is the area in which Marathon Resources, over a two-year period, has systematically vandalised the sanctuary following exploratory drilling at Mt Gee, Mt Gee West and Hodgkinsons. Ore sample which should have been returned to drill holes, cardboard boxes, food wrappers and PVC pipes were among the items buried in plastic and calico bags (22.800 of them at Mt Gee) and in plastic and steel drums.
It is no surprise that the two major parliamentary parties of capitalism have joined forces to block the Greens' Bill.
Parnell has vowed to make one further attempt to get the Government to comply with the wishes of the people.
"I'll come back with a specific bill just to prevent mining in Arkaroola," he said.
"It's the biggest sanctuary in SA, it's the most important and that's what we need to protect.
"Sanctuaries comprise only one tenth of one per cent of our state and if those areas aren't too precious to mine then where is?"
4 comments:
Will the South Australian Liberal Party, despite the rhetoric of its own members and prominent conservatives, remain so beholden to their corporate base that they'll even be prepared to renouce this very big stick with which to beat the SA government?
It's not like they appear to have a lot else to offer the SA public at the moment! Note that Family First (and the Democrats) voted with Mark Parnell, a pretty reasonable indicator of where the popular vote (across the political spectrum) will be on this issue.
Shame on the politicians of SA! It would appear that Arkaroola and the ranges in general needs World Heritage Listing but it would be hard to get support from a person such as Peter Garret on anything as important as this. Once a upon a time people would rally in the streets to protect such places but most people have their heads in the sand or are buried in debt...just as the ploiticians planned!
you might want to check out the new 'sustainable development' PR consultants who will apparently be facilitating key stakeholder engagement for marathon -
futureeye
wonder how marathon went on the 'sustainability diagnostic'
Mike, can you send me your email please to nigel@rosettamoon.com, cheers...you can delete this comment:)
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