To thread their way through environmental protection laws and keep Marathon investing, supporters of mining in the sanctuary have performed a range of unedifying gymnastics.
For years, Labor has joined with Marathon in a flagrant misreading of the SA Development Plan.
SA Labor buckling on Arkaroola uranium?, Green Left Weekly, February 27, 2011By Renfrey Clarke,”……….As insurance against lingering environmentalism among government ministers, Marathon — one of whose largest shareholders is the Chinese mining group CITIC — has brought a suite of former Labor politicians on board.
The firm’s directors include former Senator Chris Schacht, and its registered lobbyist is another former Labor senator, John Quirke.
According to the February 18 Advertiser, Marathon also has the backing of current SA Senator and ALP powerbroker Don Farrell.
The firm also draws support in the ALP from the Australian Workers Union (AWU).
The AWU is on record as supporting “responsible” mining at Arkaroola on the grounds that it would create jobs. The May 14, 2010 Advertiser quoted AWU national secretary Paul Howes as saying he had been convinced of the merits of mining during talks with Marathon officials.
Unfortunately for Marathon and its Labor champions, South Australians have taken Arkaroola to their hearts……………
A poll conducted recently for the Adelaide Sunday Mail found that 72% of those interviewed — and 79% of Labor voters — wanted mining in Arkaroola banned.
These sentiments extend into the state’s richest and most conservative circles.
For residents of Adelaide’s leafy eastern suburbs, Arkaroola, remote but stunning, has become very much the place to be seen in one’s SUV.
Prominent Liberals who strongly oppose mining in the sanctuary reportedly include leading economic “dry” Senator Nick Minchin, state shadow treasurer Iain Evans, and former state environment spokesperson Michele Lensink……..
On September 14, the Advertiser quoted state Liberal leader Isobel Redmond saying that in office, the Liberals would amend development laws to safeguard the area.
But when Greens MP Mark Parnell sought the same day to protect Arkaroola by moving two amendments to government mining legislation, Liberal MPs joined with Labor to vote it down.
To thread their way through environmental protection laws and keep Marathon investing, supporters of mining in the sanctuary have performed a range of unedifying gymnastics.
For years, Labor has joined with Marathon in a flagrant misreading of the SA Development Plan.
The area of the Mt Gee deposit is defined in the plan as an “Environmental Class A Zone”. In such zones, mining development is banned unless it is considered to be “in the highest national or State interest”, and “alternative deposits are not available on other land in the locality”……..
So far, the response from well-known environmentalists to the national park proposal has been sceptical. As Greens MP Parnell pointed out on February 18, there is a long record of mining being permitted in national parks.
Matthew Turner of the Wilderness Society told ABC News on February 23: “Many in the community would be unaware that 83% of the area of our national parks is actually open to mining and mining exploration.”
Meanwhile, national park status for Arkaroola would imply heavy restrictions on the sustainable ecotourism that has helped build public support for preserving the region.
The government needs to make unequivocally clear that mining in the Arkaroola wilderness will not be allowed to go ahead, whatever the area’s legal status.
Already, a proper reading of the SA Development Plan would seem to block mining at Mt Gee. Special legislation should be introduced to make the whole of the sanctuary off limits to mining development.
For this to happen, SA Labor will need to break up with its mining industry bedfellows. Should it refuse, the Franklin River campaign provides a model for environmentalists on how to take the fight forward.
SA Labor buckling on Arkaroola uranium? | Green Left Weekly
