The Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor, said today 'the sheer act of stupidity' carried out by the National Party in the Senate this week has created the very problem the amendment to the Water Amendment Bill 2008 was designed to solve.

Mr Windsor originally moved an amendment which would require a scientific study of groundwater issues to be done before the granting of exploration licences for mining activity.

The Coalition, in the House of Representatives, supported Mr Windsor.

The next day, however, while the Water Bill was still in the committee stages of the Senate, the Nationals moved to reverse its position on the amendment and voted it down in conjunction with the Labor Party.

“Obviously the Minerals Council’s Mitch Hooke reined in the Nationals overnight and ordered them to reverse their position," Mr Windsor claims.

"As a result, the Nationals have recreated the very problem that led to the need for the original amendment."

Under the current state-based planning process, he says, there is only a need for a localised Environmental Impact Statement to be carried out by the mining company after exploration.

“There is no need to identify offsite impacts farther downstream in groundwater or surface water," he said.

“The Nationals have delivered to the mining companies the environmental process with which they have to contend now."

The National’s involvement eradicates any credibility they may have had on this issue, he says.