Scrap Mining Act changes
My husband and I are freehold landowners on the Yorke Peninsula and have spent years fighting to protect our productive cropping land from the incursion of resource companies.
The Mining Act 1971 is already heavily weighted against landowners in favour of resource companies. But, the Liberals' proposed amendments to the act erode landowners' rights further by making it easier, cheaper and quicker for resource companies to access freehold farmland.
It's not surprising, as this bill is the result of a flawed review process controlled by the government department responsible for the promotion of mining in SA.
We strongly oppose any move by the Liberal government to reintroduce its bill into Parliament as it could spell devastation for our agricultural industry if it became legislation. The government needs to scrap its bill entirely in favour of new, innovative legislation that protects our sustainable agricultural land, as in WA.
Sue Davey,
Pine Point.
Get real about climate
I refer to the contribution from Terry Richardson, on the Australian Dairy Farmers page, generously headlined "Sensible approach to climate policy" (Stock Journal, June 6).
This opinion piece rattles off the same vacuous arguments about the economic costs of climate change that have been peddled for nearly 30 years past, and relying on speculative assessments by organisations such as BA Economics - whoever they are - and of course making no reference whatsoever to the likely massive costs - including the total collapse of the dairy industry for whom Richardson speaks - that scientific analysis of the likely effects of further dramatically increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere suggests will occur, and indeed which we are already seeing with this so-called drought affecting the eastern states.
In his closing two paragraphs, Mr Richardson pontificates about climate change being a global problem requiring global solutions, and says it should not be up to a country "like Australia to run down its economy to achieve an aspirational target while others do nothing, or worse, continue to increase emissions in the pursuit of economic prosperity".
What utter hypocrisy. Mr Richardson has no idea how international diplomacy works - I do - I did it for a living. All other countries will do exactly what we in Australia are doing and so succinctly described by Mr Richardson - we increase emissions in the name of economic prosperity. In international affairs, leadership is required, not some sort of childish attitude that we won't play ball unless others start the game.
Already in the past several years we have seen extremely dry autumns and winters, with the singular recent exception of 2016.
The dry and warm conditions are causing much greater evaporation, and very low soil moisture.
A cursory examination of Bureau of Meteorology data shows an increase in the prevalence of high pressure systems over the centre of the continent, which prevents the low pressure systems and rain-bearing troughs from bringing rainfall to south-east Australia. The tropics are expanding and the subtropical belt of high pressure is also being forced south. This will have serious effects, like driving the Goyder line of rainfall in SA further south, and expanding the arid areas of western Qld, and western NSW.
Humans are driven by two emotions, greed and fear. When people like Mr Richardson realise how dire our future is unless we do much more to hold the line with carbon dioxide emissions, they will hit the panic button, but by then it will be too late.
Mark Zanker,
Barrister and solicitor, ACT Supreme Court, and former Assistant Secretary, International Trade and Environment Law Branch, Australian Government Attorney-General's Department.
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