Coal Seam Gas Policy
COMMUNITY SAFEGUARD
- Implement a 12 month moratorium on all proposed and new Coal Seam Gas projects.
- Ensure mining companies put up a “make good” bond at the beginning of the project.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
- Introduction of a “Royalties for Regions” program where a minimum of 20% of the royalties earned from a region must be returned to the region in addition to maintenance of existing expenditure indexed to current levels.
- A requirement for mining companies to implement ‘Community Development Plans’ to invest in Queensland’s social and physical infrastructure.
- Introduction of tax incentives for companies and employees to reward local placement of workers and a percentage of royalties to be used to provide more affordable housing for miners and their families, including water, electricity and two lane roadway.
RESTORE PROPERTY RIGHTS
- No exploration or mining activity will be permitted on landholder’s property without the landholder’s consent.
- Reinstatement of Mining Wardens and ‘Permit to Enter’ system to ensure landholder’s rights are protected and upheld.
PROTECT THE GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
- Prohibition on all drilling through the Great Artesian Basin.
- Prohibition on hydraulic fracturing (fraccing) within three kilometres in any direction from any aquifer, groundwater source or groundwater supply point.
PROTECT AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
- Provision for farms and regions to be declared ‘Strategic Production Land’ and exempt from mining activities.
Katter’s Australian Party recognises the significant contributions mining and associated activities have made and continue to make to Queensland through royalty payments, Commonwealth income tax grants, GST revenues, capital and recurrent spending, job creation, and community development and support.
Equally, Katter’s Australian Party is committed to the long term stewardship of Queensland’s natural resources, identifying and protecting assets of community, industry and State interest, ensuring the viability and sustainability of Queensland’s food production regions and protecting and upholding landholder’s rights by empowering communities and providing legislative support.
Katter’s Australian Party Coal Seam Gas policy:
COMMUNITY SAFEGUARD
- Will immediately implement a 12 month moratorium on all proposed and new Coal Seam Gas projects and review existing projects.
- Will require all applicants to lodge a ‘make good’ bond calculated as a percentage of projected project revenues. This bond will be held in trust by the government in an interest bearing account for the term of the project. Any ‘make good’ needed during the life of the project is to be paid by the project operator from project revenue as needed and any shortfall at the end of the project will be paid out of the bond. Any balance remaining at the end of the project will be returned to the project operator. Any interest earned on this bond is to be spent on social and capital infrastructure in the project region in a way that enhances both the project’s and the community’s viability.
- Will ensure the viability and development of population centres and agricultural land by close supervision of exploration permits, mining permits and mineral development leases issued over these areas. Existing permits which are not in the public interest will not be renewed.
COMMUNITY DEVLOPMENT
- Will actively promote and support a “Royalties to Regions” initiative whereby a minimum of 20 per cent of mining royalties earned from a region must be returned to the region in the form of social and capital infrastructure, including the provision of affordable housing and associated services for miners and their families. The “Royalties to Regions” initiative is separate to any other budget allocations. Expenditure under this program is to be ratified by community representatives and local government.
- Will only grant mining and development licences to applicants willing to implement ‘Community Development Plans’ and commit to long term investment in Queensland’s social and physical infrastructure. To this end applicants must actively engage in training Australian labour, capacity building in local communities and encouraging residential and industrial development in local communities.
- Will promote tax incentives for both employer and employees to support development in regional locations.
RESTORE PROPERTY RIGHTS
- Will promote and support property rights legislation that restores negotiating power to landholders. No mining or exploration activity will be permitted on a landholder’s property without the landholder’s explicit consent, nor will exploration permits or mining leases be granted without landholder consent. A landholder retains the absolute right to withhold consent and any consent given must be a written agreement based on terms that are deemed by the landholder to be fair and reasonable and recognise the landholder’s rights.
- In the interests of transparency, exploration and mining applicants must maintain a register of consent agreements and these details are to be publicly available. The community must be collectively informed and landholder agreements collectively negotiated to ensure the best operable outcome for all parties.
- Recognises that mining activities can affect neighbouring properties and may be incompatible with established land uses in the vicinity. Provision will be made for a dispute resolution process administered by Mining Wardens to ensure that affected landholders are not adversely impacted by the proposed activity, taking into account current values and earning capacity.
PROTECT THE GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN
- Will ensure the protection of the Great Artesian Basin and other groundwater resources for the long term national interest by prohibiting hydraulic fracturing (fraccing) on the Great Artesian Basin and within three kilometres in any direction from any aquifer, groundwater source or groundwater supply point.
- Affirms that it will continue to expressly prohibit the use of benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene (BTEX) in hydraulic fracturing.
- Additionally, known carcinogens will be prohibited from use in fraccing and will ensure all chemical information and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are publicly available through the appropriate departmental website as well as the project operator’s website.
- Will ensure government, in conjunction with appropriately qualified independent authorities, community representatives and industry proponents; undertake comprehensive multidisciplinary studies of aquifers subject to mining impacts. These studies are to investigate, identify and determine interconnectivity and evaluate aquifer impacts, including drawdown levels. These studies are to take into account individual projects and the aggregate impact of all proposed projects. These studies will determine acceptable drawdown levels and these levels must be subject to ratification by the community.
- Will ensure these studies also identify and determine a ceiling on the maximum amount of water that can be extracted on a daily basis associated with Coal Seam Gas activity as well as long term safe and sustainable solutions to effectively manage and treat all by-products of Coal Seam Gas activities. These studies must be subject to ratification by the community, and where no such solutions can be found production will cease.
PROTECT AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
- Will provide food security for future generations and land security for primary producers, their families and their employees by declaring key productive regions ‘Strategic Production Land’ and exempt from mining development.
FIVE YEAR MORATORIUM ON UNDERGROUND COMBUSTION COAL GASIFICATION NEAR DEVELOPED AREAS
- Will place a five year moratorium on any mining activity that requires the underground combustion of the resource as a critical process. This moratorium does not apply to pilot projects which are located away from ‘Strategic Production Land’ and population centres.
