Victorian mining bill a disaster
By Mariana Tomescu
MELBOURNE — Mining legislation introduced into the Victorian parliament by the state government last month disregards environmental safeguards and could lead to disastrous and irreversible ecological damage.
Jenny Barnett, a research officer for the Victorian National Parks Association, said, "There has been no apparent community consultation on the impact of this bill, which will affect a large range of people, especially in rural areas. It will remove all exploration from the planning process, including digging large pits for bulk sampling, digging trenches ... large scale drilling and bulldozing of tracks — anything in the name of exploration."
If the bill is passed, exploration for mining, on either public or private land, will require only the permission of the Department for Energy and Resources, regardless of the possible or known environmental impacts.
Environmental assessment of proposed exploration will not be compulsory unless bulk sampling and road making (on public land) are involved, and required by the minister of energy and resources. This will be limited to an environmental effects statement (EES) prepared by the miner.
Mining will no longer be prohibited in private land or areas such as conservation zones, and no adequate assessment will be made for the mining process. Although an EES can be required for larger mining projects, public hearings will not be mandatory. It will then be possible to accelerate mining without notice or any public participation.
Although the level of protection for some currently unprotected areas, such as historic and bushland reserves will be improved, other areas such as flora reserves will lack reliable protection. Only specified areas such as national and state parks, and declared wilderness areas will be totally protected from mining. Legislatively enforceable codes of practice will also be removed, which will be devastating to state forests such as the box- ironbark areas in central Victoria, which contain many declining and threatened species.
To protest against this pending environmental disaster you can speak/write to your local members of parliament, local councils, newspapers; Jim Plowman, minister for energy and minerals, (PO Box 98, East Melbourne 3002), and the shadow minister, Kelvin Thompson, (122 Snell Grove, Oak Park 3046).