Queenslanders’ right to object to mining projects – including coal – would be “gutted” by new legislation that would ban opponents from being heard in court without the minister’s approval and then only if they owned a property within a 125km radius of the project.
The Greens have called the move “corrupt” and community action group Lock the Gate Alliance said the state’s LNP government was “tearing up democratic and environmental protections just to make life easier for mining companies”.
The state’s minister for natural resources, Dale Last, who tabled the legislation on Tuesday, said the bill was “about streamlining approvals and making faster decisions”.
“Activists based thousands of kilometres away and green groups funded by foreign overseas entities are no longer eligible to have a say,” he said.
4 Comments
observes_depths@aussie.zone · 8 pts · 3d
What the actual fuck. The minister can just veto any court case. Is that really how far into totalitarianism we've fallen?
arbilp3@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 3d
Seems so, especially in Qld.
arbilp3@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 3d
Oh, Mr Last, and all the foreign-owned coal and gas companies take profits overseas. The Qld govt is becoming ever more a protector of predatory economic interests instead of the people of Qld.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 3d
well, that's why they area there