from Business Spectator just nowLabor and Libs to sink Greens...

from Business Spectator just now


Labor and Libs to sink Greens CSG bill

AAP

Labor and the coalition have confirmed they will join forces to defeat a Greens bill that would give farmers the right to refuse coal seam gas (CSG) miners access to their land.

Labor senator Mark Furner said the government would not support Larissa Waters' bill because mineral resources belonged to the Australian people - not individual landowners.

"We believe the right way forward is for the gas industry and landowners to effectively work together for the benefit of everyone," he told the Senate.

Senator Furner suggested electricity generated using gas produced up to 70 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than some existing coal-generated technology.

"Coal seam gas has a significant role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

"Gas is an important fuel in terms of a transition to a low carbon economy."

Senator Furner said mining had "little or no impact" on land if done properly.

Liberal senator Gary Humphries argued land use was a state responsibility and state governments were already grappling with the issue.

Disputes should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, he said.

"The coalition does not see any merit in this bill.

"The fact is resource companies can't enter landowners' property to exploit the minerals and resources on that property without a negotiated or, in the worst case, a lands court-arbitrated agreement with that landowner."

Senator Waters interjected to point out, correctly, that "Tony Abbott had the idea originally".

In mid-August, the opposition leader agreed farmers had "a right to say no" if they did not want miners to come onto their land to explore for energy and mineral deposits.

But he quickly back-peddled when criticised by the mining industry.

Greens food security spokeswoman Christine Milne said the bill went to the heart of one of the most significant debates of the century - namely food security.

The draft law would protect all land that had produced food in the past 10 years without altering the ownership of gas, she said.

Senator Milne also argued the mining of CSG actually produced significant amounts of dangerous pollution.

"There is a lot of emerging evidence to say that coal seam gas, because it is methane, has a much, much greater impact on global warming in the short term than carbon dioxide," she said.

Mining CSG put blasts of methane into the atmosphere in the short term "and actually make the situation worse".