Controversial bill allows for license-free extraction
In a new bill passed by the Queensland State Parliament, laws and legislations have been passed to help secure ground-water resources for large scale companies. The bill poses a crucial threat to the Great Barrier Reef, and has caused controversy among environmentalists.
By allowing the deregulation of ground-water extraction, large mining companies can now freely mine for billions of litres without any government interference. The process of securing ground water has the potential to be harmful to the environment. While the Great Barrier Reef is already facing challenges with climate change and mass pollution, this new bill creates another potential threat to the stability of one of the most bio-diverse environments in Australia.
Many fear that the successful passing of this bill is a step in the wrong direction. Giving large corporations access to an enormous amount of natural-resources can disrupt the multitude of ecosystems present in the Great Barrier Reef. Furthermore, this bill allows companies to extract mass amounts of ground-water without considering any ecological consequences, ultimately leading to environmental harm.
Furthermore, critics are concerned that the legislation does not secure water for local and rural communities in the surrounding area as well as it should. It is a crucial move made by the state of Queensland to deregulate such an important and prominent resource, allowing it to become unsupervised and controlled by large corporations.
In an attempt to ease the minds of those concerned, Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Andrew Cripps, introduced the bill this past week and spoke about its projected benefits.
“The bill delivers a number of key reforms while retaining certainty and security of entitlements and, most importantly, balancing economic, social and environmental outcomes,” Cripps said to the public.
“It does not abandon the interests of the environment, does not abandon the Great Barrier Reef … [it] provides opportunities for economic growth in Queensland while taking into consideration the needs of local communities for water and also the important needs of the environment.”
Environmental spokesperson Jackie Trad spoke adamantly about the bill and its potential to cause environmental damage.
“The Government can agree to give a mining company a water development option, which is essentially a right to exclusive water use without any scientific or hydrological assessment taking place beforehand,” Trad said. “Also, without taking public submissions. In essence, this is a shameful bill. It is an utter disgrace.”
Whether the bill will allow for further economic growth in the Queensland region, or cause irreversible environmental harm, remains to be seen. The bill is controversial in its conception, and has been criticized by locals, government officials, and concerned environmentalists alike.