The Shenhua mine will affect only a tiny percentage of the farming area. It will not “wipe out farming”. You are sounding like a greenie. I favour the development and export of our mineral resources, including coal.
The things that will wipe out farming are:- * the National party * Banks operating with no goverment-imposed conditions on their licences under the Banking Act * selling out to foreign ownership * lack of an Australian Reconstruction and Development Bank, as advocated by Bob Katter MP * higher interest rates, which will arrive within a few years * free trade agreements not delivering on enhancing our exports * cheap imports of food * Canberra bureaucratic controls on farming * Native Vegetation legislation, and other greenie-imposed restrictions — see the attached newspaper article about water restrictions in the Murray-Darling; it was a full-page article in the Australian newspaper, so I had to use scissors and sticky-tape to literally cut and paste to make the text of the article to fit all onto one A4 page suitable for scanning. The big headline was “Farmers Left High and Dry” with some photos. * high fuel costs as Australia’s Oil Refineries shut down and we have to rely on imports * high transport costs * inadequate quarantine protections against incoming pests and diseases * unfair purchasing policies of the Coles-Woollies duopoly * the rising influence on city-based politicians of leftie groups like the RSPCA and animal welfare rights groups.
Compared to all of the above, the Shenhua mine is rather trivial, a pimple on a pumpkin. But it serves the interests of the Laboral, Nationals and Green parties to get people outraged about minor issues to divert them away from thinking about the major issues listed above.
The Shenhua mine will affect only a tiny percentage of the farming area. It will not “wipe out farming”. You are sounding like a greenie. I favour the development and export of our mineral resources, including coal.
The things that will wipe out farming are:- * the National party * Banks operating with no goverment-imposed conditions on their licences under the Banking Act * selling out to foreign ownership * lack of an Australian Reconstruction and Development Bank, as advocated by Bob Katter MP * higher interest rates, which will arrive within a few years * free trade agreements not delivering on enhancing our exports * cheap imports of food * Canberra bureaucratic controls on farming * Native Vegetation legislation, and other greenie-imposed restrictions — see the attached newspaper article about water restrictions in the Murray-Darling; it was a full-page article in the Australian newspaper, so I had to use scissors and sticky-tape to literally cut and paste to make the text of the article to fit all onto one A4 page suitable for scanning. The big headline was “Farmers Left High and Dry” with some photos. * high fuel costs as Australia’s Oil Refineries shut down and we have to rely on imports * high transport costs * inadequate quarantine protections against incoming pests and diseases * unfair purchasing policies of the Coles-Woollies duopoly * the rising influence on city-based politicians of leftie groups like the RSPCA and animal welfare rights groups.
Compared to all of the above, the Shenhua mine is rather trivial, a pimple on a pumpkin. But it serves the interests of the Laboral, Nationals and Green parties to get people outraged about minor issues to divert them away from thinking about the major issues listed above.
Lex Stewart