NSW government is hatching a plan to quell the rising tensions over resources development and farmland.
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An inter-departmental land use conflict taskforce has been set up to develop options for resolving land use conflict in targeted hot spot areas.
State government is managing a range of community conflagrations over mining and gas development.
Shenhua near Breeza, BHP Billiton at Caroona, KEPCO at Bylong, POSCO in the Southern Highlands, Rio Tinto at Warkworth, Yancoal at Camberwell, AGL at Gloucester and Santos at Narrabri are among a long list of flashpoints.
The Land Use Conflict taskforce kicked off on October 22 and was expected to take seven weeks to complete.
The taskforce said its focused on conflict between agriculture and mining, “especially in view of mining and petroleum developments currently (in the) assessment system”.
A project charter authored by the Department of Premier and Cabinet said the options identified by the taskforce would be presented to relevant ministers for consideration.
Questions remain over consultation. The project charter said stakeholders would be engaged “only with agreement of Ministers offices and secretaries”.
Lock the Gate spokesperson George Woods said she was open to the process but disappointed the government hadn’t yet consulted landholders “who are at the coalface of the conflict” while the strategy was developed “behind closed doors”.
A taskforce spokesperson said “representatives from local government, experts and community groups, may be required to provide advice to the taskforce from time to time”.
The taskforce will develop a “desktop case study” of the Namoi region, which hosts Shenhua, BHP and Santos, “to demonstrate how options can be applied to a hot spot”.
The Taskforce includes the Departments of Premier and Cabinet, Primary Industries, Environment, Resources, Planning and the Environment Protection Agency.
“The NSW government is committed to delivering co-existence and balance for regional communities and so we have recently set up an inter-agency taskforce with the objective of providing options to help resolve land-use issues in regional areas,” the spokesperson for the Premier’s Department said.
