A call for commonsense to prevail over the increasingly contentious ag versus mining debate has been issued by fledgling lobby group Friends of Felton in the lead up to this week's Queensland state election.
The organisation has been pressing-the-flesh in the streets of Toowoomba City, believing it is beginning to strike a chord with the electorate which now grasps the fact the bullish mining industry needs to be reined in.
While issues such as carbon trading credits, water licensing arrangements and the land clearing debate leave many city folk with glazed expressions on their faces, the stark reality of vast mines extracting coal where heads of prime wheat and barley once shimmered in the sun is starting to alarm urban Queenslanders.
Friends of Felton spokesperson Rob McCreath has no qualms about ramping up the ag versus mining debate ahead of this Saturday’s election.
"Every few years the people of Queensland have a chance to have their say about what goes on in this state – so the election is a great opportunity to tell people about what's planned for the eastern Darling Downs in general and Felton in particular," he said.
With a recent survey noting that vegetable growers from Felton, Cambooya and Wyrena district grow some 750,000 lettuces, 60,000 cauliflowers, plus 60,000 bunches of celery each week, there's also the issue of rural job losses should Ambre Energy's proposed open-cut mine and dimethyl ether mine get the nod from State Government.
"There’s about 350 jobs involved in the district's horticultural industry alone," Mr McCreath said.
"In spite of what the miners say, farming cannot co-exist with open-cut mining."
Friends of Felton say there is no way farmers can produce high quality salad vegetables next to a petro-chemical plant or an open-cut coalmine, principally because of the associated contamination.
It says the plan for a coal to liquids plant at Felton is fraught with dust and heavy metal worries, with "goodness knows what sort of pollution" likely to be showered over the surrounding areas.
"We are getting a great reception from the public and they are all very alarmed at what is being proposed," Mr McCreath said.
"It makes no sense to trash our best farmland in places like Felton and Haystack Road near Dalby.
"These are very valuable (farming) areas and there’s not much land of this type in Queensland. It should be protected at all costs."
Conceding his organisation lacked the mining industry’s spin doctors and lawyers, Friends of Felton increasingly is relying on public support – gathering more signatures for its petition to influence the next government of the day.
Up until recently it said the Bligh Government continued to stress how it had gone through all the proper procedures, plus had committed itself to studying the environmental impacts of each new mine proposal.
"But you only have to see what happened in the Fitzroy River System when polluted water was pumped out of mine sites to understand it’s crazy to talk about an open-cut mine being sited next to Hodgson Creek and the head waters of the Murray Darling," Mr McCreath said.
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