tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post8266395479518237559..comments2023-08-04T01:53:37.373+10:00Comments on Evacuation Grounds: PRA: Hearing into new Qld resources billGeoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16952473688008286364noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-79907709095516422102014-09-13T21:38:16.530+10:002014-09-13T21:38:16.530+10:00After 288 submissions & 5 hearings this report...After 288 submissions & 5 hearings <b><a href="http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Documents/TableOffice/TabledPapers/2014/5414T5822.pdf" rel="nofollow">this report</a></b> by the parliamentary committee is a joke.<br />Below is PRA's view about the report.<br /><br />The parliamentary committee with the responsibility of overseeing the public submission and hearing process into the Mineral and Energy resources (Common Provisions) Bill 2014 has made 4 recommendations which barely nod at the very significant concerns raised by landowner groups, individual landowners, highly experienced and qualified legal firms, Government enterprises and local councils. <br /><br />This so called modernisation and harmonisation of 5 Acts has been used as an excuse to wind back landowner rights even further in spite of a commitment not to do so.<br /><br />For such a highly complex bill with very wide ramifications across all resource legislation for the committee to make only four recommendations after very significant concerns raised in submissions and at hearings is surprising. But the disconnect of each recommendation to the forerunning text of the report is nothing less than astonishing. <br /><br />Part 4 of the report detailed the response to the bill’s changes to notifications and objections of new resource projects. Concerns ranged across the very limited definitions of “affected landholders” which do not take account of effects of neighbouring properties, limited grounds for objections which render them virtually useless and very limited notification.<br />The ensuring recommendation to Part 4 is that the very good Qld Globe facility be used as a de facto notification substitute. This ignores the fact that not all landowners access the internet and that the vast majority of rural internet connections are insufficient to access Qld Globe at will. The recommendation completely ignores genuine concern about who can lodge an objection. <br /><br />Restricted areas (covered in Part 5 of the report) is another area which attracted a lot of criticism for what amounted to a winding back of landowner rights. None of the considerable and reasonable criticism has been listened to. Vital farm infrastructure is not protected. All of the reports of the difficulty landowners have in coming to some sort of satisfactory Conduct and Compensation agreements have fallen on deaf ears. <br />“The committee acknowledges the concerns from land holders and other parties that ‘restricted land’ no longer applies to infrastructure. However, the committee accepts the intent of the changes to the restricted land framework, which legitimately seeks to achieve a consistent restricted land framework across all resource sectors.”<br />This is an unacceptable response, a consistent framework across all resource sectors is of little value to landholders if it is consistently bad. <br /><br />The committee in recommendation 3 asks for a review of the land access code. Again this is surprising as it is an ongoing process that occurs outside of the legislation. This recommendation adds nothing to improve provisions within the bill itself.<br /><br />The last recommendation sensibly asks that “ the Bill be amended to provide that reasonable costs incurred by land holders in negotiating an agreement are compensable by resource companies including where the resource company withdraws from the negotiations prior to finalising the agreement” But this this apparent improvement for landholders is immediately weakened by the proviso of “with consideration of a capped amount”. Landholders face a large imbalance of power in CCA negotiations with resource companies and need at their disposal the full use of professional advisors. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08937219469312905632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-39082582954535442192014-09-07T15:17:55.994+10:002014-09-07T15:17:55.994+10:00I want to congratulate Dale on his recent election...I want to congratulate Dale on his recent election as the new PRA Chairman. <br /><br />Outgoing Chairman, Joanne Rea’s following comment in the latest PRA newsletter is surely well deserved by Dale:<br /><br /><i>"Dale is quite possibly the hardest working Board member that PRA has ever had. He has many submissions to Government and associated parliamentary hearings to his name, a great deal of research across PRA areas of interest, articles on the internet and he has started a Property Rights Australia page which highlights articles and newspaper items about various issues relevant to us."</i><br /><br />Joanne’s own dedication and significant contribution to PRA in her role as chairman is also deserving of high commendation.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01666128439539414631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-31429780977960041262014-09-07T15:13:47.163+10:002014-09-07T15:13:47.163+10:00Well done Dale - a very revealing report.Well done Dale - a very revealing report.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01666128439539414631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-81774211402562786582014-08-31T14:04:36.145+10:002014-08-31T14:04:36.145+10:00This is something I wrote for the Basin Sustainabi...This is something I wrote for the Basin Sustainability Alliance from the notes I took at the Toowoomba hearing. Just as there was only 2 parliamentarians attending the hearing in Toowoomba the same occurred at Mackay & Townsville. <br /><b><a href="http://notatanycost.com.au/bsa-stands-landholder-rights-hearing/" rel="nofollow">http://notatanycost.com.au/bsa-stands-landholder-rights-hearing/</a></b>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08937219469312905632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-14582860517791559972014-08-31T09:46:46.054+10:002014-08-31T09:46:46.054+10:00Lets hope the pollies who are supposed to represen...Lets hope the pollies who are supposed to represent the rural sector actually get a conscience and listen to the excellent points made by Joanne, and the other presenters. The Toowoomba hearing was well attended and some very confronting presentations made to the Parliamentary representatives. To ignore the pleas for fair and just legislation would be a breech of their role, and would invariably place question on their credibility.( wasn't especially impressed with the Public servants who added to the discussion there)Tony Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07019509199750516180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708428768586378687.post-71582227830836078282014-08-30T22:12:01.125+10:002014-08-30T22:12:01.125+10:00Congratulations, Joanne, on your sound and forthri...Congratulations, Joanne, on your sound and forthrightly expressed opinions.<br /><br />How tragic, as you say, that it would seem <i>"there are no major parties whose philosophical principle is uncompromisingly to protect private property rights, a valuable and recognised cornerstone of our society . . ."</i>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01666128439539414631noreply@blogger.com