NSW Farmers Association Support Agricultural Protection

3rd of Jun, 2009

The NSW Farmers’ Association has added its support to the the Mining Amendment (Safeguarding Agricultural Land and Water) Bill which is due to be debated in NSW Parliament on Thursday. It remains to be seen how the National Party responds in the Parliamentary debate on the bill - which is designed to protect prime agricultural lands and waters feeding those lands from the encroachment of mining.

According to NSW Farmers’ Association President Jock Laurie, the Association supports the objective of the Bill in aiming to protect prime agricultural land and its water sources from mining operations, and is encouraging its members to attend a rally at Parliament House on Thursday morning. Mr Laurie said: 

It is good to see the farm and environmental lobbies working together to protect prime agricultural land from mining. This has long been an issue for our Members, particularly those based on prime land such as the Liverpool Plains and the Gloucester Valley.

We have asked for the Bill to be amended so that the definition of prime gricultural land and its water sources can be established by regulation at a future date. The regulation would use a new classification system developed in close consultation with the agricultural sector.

This definitional issue should not delay passage of the Bill, however.

The broad support for this Bill indicates that the time has come for Government to acknowledge the impacts of mining on agriculture and to provide legislation that ensures the sustainability of our most productive farming lands.

We need to ensure that the voice of agriculture is heard.  Agriculture must not be second-best to mining: crop protection must be maintained, prime agricultural land and its water resources must be retained and the nation’s agricultural resources safeguarded.

A rally will take place at the front gates of Parliament House at 10:30am on Thursday 4 June. Around 150 farmers and supporters are expected to converge on Parliament House in support of the Bill.

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