Arkaroola mine vote imminent 3/10/2008 3:54:00 PM The Liberal Party in SA is moving into Labor territory by putting its green credentials before its relationship with the top end of town.
Labor saved the Franklin River 25 years ago this year, campaigned on environmental issues during the Howard Government, and signed Kyoto early in the life of the Rudd Government.
Electoral results during the ’80s and ’90s show the ALP federally was the major party of choice for environmentalists and conservationists.
But in SA senior Liberals will support a ban on uranium mining in the famous Arkaroola Wilderness, while sections of the ALP want mining to go ahead.
The issue will come to a vote in parliament soon when Liberal MLCs will be forced to vote for or against a Greens Bill to permanently halt exploration and mining at Arkaroola.
“Some places are just too valuable to mine, and Arkaroola is clearly one of those,” Mr Parnell said.
Federal Liberal Senate leader Nick Minchin and the state Liberal MP Iain Evans support the ban.
The vote comes as Australian scientists announced their discovery of an ancient underwater reef in the Flinders Ranges. The unique reef was formed between two ice ages 650 million years ago, when the earth was semi-tropical.
“Some of the organisms that build this reef are undescribed,” said Melbourne University researcher Jonathan Giddings. “That’s new to science and could provide significant insight into our understanding of the evolution of more complex life forms at that time.”
The uranium prospecting and mining company Marathon Resources has already been found to have illegally dumped bags filled with radioactive samples and exploration waste in the wilderness sanctuary. The State Government ordered a clean-up but has not ruled out giving Marathon permission for a full-scale mine.
Marathon Resources chairman Peter Williams says the company has learnt from its mistakes and still hopes the mine will be approved. He said mining and wilderness can co-exist.
“Elsewhere in the world there’s been a co-existence of eco-tourism with mining operations,” Mr Williams said last week. “I love Arkaroola and I want it to be preserved as well. But there is no reason why we should discard the fact that there’s a uranium deposit that sits underneath it that could be of great economic value to this state.”
Marathon recently released its report titled Marathon Resources: Learning from Waste in the Wilderness, saying this would be the company’s future blueprint, addressing regulatory responsibilities and community concerns.
The Greens remain sceptical. “I don’t think too many people were convinced by the Marathon spin doctors that the company had learnt anything from the ‘Waste in the Wilderness’ debacle other than ‘don’t get caught’,” Mr Parnell said.
Mines Minister Paul Holloway said in August that Marathon had “significant hurdles” to overcome even if it successfully cleaned up the area.
“They haven’t applied to recommence any exploration drilling, nor would I consider it at this stage. They’re indefinitely suspended and that stays,” he said.
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