The federal parliament will test the support of the major parties for coal seam mining this week in Australia. The Australian Greens are to introduce a bill to increase the rights of land owners and protect the quality of water along with an independent MP.
Independent MP Tony Windsor wants the Coal Seam Gas industry to slow down and will introduce the private member’s bill on Monday to extend the existing federal environmental laws. This is based on fears of farmers in rural Queensland and New South Wales who say that the process of fracking will poison the underground water, contaminate arable land be the cause of health troubles for people in the region.
Mr Windsor said that the issue isn't so much the mining activity, it's the off-site effects of it. He added that as long as you can withhold everything within your boundary you will be given a tick, but if you are doing it in a groundwater system the impact will go outside your area and the federal laws will be triggered.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott ruled out backing a private members bill which the Greens want to introduce. The bill aims at increasing land owners' rights to have a greater say over CSG companies moving in on their properties.
Queensland's Greens Senator Larissa Waters said that the community is way out ahead of the government and the opposition, they want our food security protected. She added that it was incumbent on the major parties to think long and hard about their position on this bill.