Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis has vowed to keep working to protect landowners' rights despite the Statutes Amendment (Mineral Resources) Bill 2018 passing the House of Assembly on Wednesday, saying "the fight does not end here".
Mr Ellis's electorate covers the Yorke Peninsula, where farmers have fought back against proposals such as Rex Minerals' Hillside mine. He was one of seven Liberal and independent MPs to vote against the bill, which passed easily thanks to support from Labor.
I don't oppose my party easily, but for as long as I am the Member for Narungga I will be a local member first, and party member second.
- FRASER ELLIS
Mr Ellis said he crossed the floor of the Lower House to vote against the bill with a "heavy heart", claiming the proposed changes to the Mining Act 1971 did not sufficiently and fairly balance the interests of landowners and "the many mining companies seeking to explore the ground for minerals that may lay beneath their crops".
"I don't oppose my party easily, but for as long as I am the Member for Narungga I will be a local member first, and party member second," he said.
Mr Ellis expressed disappointment the government had not amended the bill to incorporate changes he and the other MPs who crossed the floor in November - Member for Mackillop Nick McBride, Kavel MP Dan Cregan and Davenport MP Steve Murray - viewed as "key improvements".
"Our recommendation that an independent review of the mining act be undertaken also failed to gain party majority support, despite this course of action being supported by both Grain Producers SA and the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy," he said.
"Only the results of such a review, undertaken at arm's length of the government and the department, can dictate the direction of meaningful reform."
Related reading: Libs divided on mining bill changes
Mr Ellis was keen to learn more about Member for Frome Geoff Brock's push for a commission of inquiry into land access regimes, and said he would watch the Upper House debate on the bill with interest.
"As I said to the many landowners from YP and other areas of the state who rallied on the steps of Parliament yesterday and stayed until nearly midnight in the chamber to watch the passage of the bill, the fight does not end here."
Mr Ellis said he planned to progress "planning law solutions", and would work with Mining and Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan on "phase two of reforms to this bill".
- Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Click here to sign up to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.