farmers fears overstated

My favourite part has to be that first sentence!

Farmers shrug off fears over CSG
BY:ANNABEL HEPWORTH From: The Australian February 07, 2013 12:00AM
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/farmers-shrug-off-fears-over-csg/story-fn59niix-1226572134457

FARMERS are more worried about the increasing influence of green groups and the foreign ownership of land than they are about coal-seam gas mining, the surprise results of new polling find.

As Environment Minister Tony Burke defended new federal controls on CSG, polling obtained by The Australian found that just 3 per cent of farmers surveyed had spontaneously named CSG as an issue of concern.

When farmers were asked their concerns on explicit issues, 54 per cent said CSG activity was an important concern, compared to 96 per cent who cited the increasing cost of utilities and goods, 90 per cent who nominated the market power of supermarkets, 86 per cent who named falling job opportunities and 85 per cent who cited poor road infrastructure.

The Crosby Textor polling, commissioned by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and co-funded by the Minerals Council of Australia, polled 600 farmers in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.


Asked about the foreign ownership of land, 76 per cent of the farmers said the issue was important to them and their families, while 75 per cent said so when asked about the rise of green groups. Just three issues were deemed important by less than two-thirds of the farmers -- management of the Murray-Darling Basin, mining exploration, and CSG activity -- as the farmers instead rated cost, business and government matters.

The findings from the December polling are a surprise as the National Farmers Federation has said farmers are concerned about the potential impact CSG exploration had on water and aquifers, while some farmers have threatened protests if they are not given further protection for agricultural land against exploration drilling.

The Lock The Gate campaign has urged farmers to block access to their properties.

The findings come as key independent Tony Windsor demands the commonwealth impose stricter environmental assessments in NSW and support a Greens bill that would allow the government to consider the impact on water resources of CSG projects.

Mr Burke said the government's new CSG measures would mean it was the government rather than mining companies paying for scientific analysis.

Under a 2011 deal to secure the support of regional independent MPs Mr Windsor and Rob Oakeshott for the mining tax, the government agreed to impose new environmental conditions on coal and CSG projects. Mr Burke said Queensland, Victoria and South Australia had signed up to the rules but NSW had rejected them, so the government was seeking advice on whether the commonwealth should legislate to have greater powers over projects in states that refused to co-operate