A new and unprecedented government policy has been brought in to protect Queensland croplands from mining and other developments.
Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones said the ban would safeguard parts of the Surat Basin in southern Queensland and the Emerald and Springsure region, from encroachment by mining, which would render the land unusable for food growing.
In a statement Ms Jones declared that ”as of today, resource development projects, such as mining, that are not well advanced in the approvals process will be subject to the full effect of the legislation to be introduced later this year”.
”The protection areas … have been defined as they are under intense and imminent development pressure.”
The implementation of the strategic cropping land (SCL) policy was designed to prompt miners to plan projects so that they can coexist with agricultural land – although it was stressed that allowance will be consider should the resource not be found elsewhere in the state.
Ms Jones has released final maps and announced that much of southern Queensland, as well as the Emerald and Springsure region, will be granted the highest level of protection as Strategic Cropping Land Protection Areas.
Resource development projects, such as mining, that are not well advanced in the approvals process will be subject to the full effect of the legislation to be introduced later this year.
“We are leading the nation in policy that safeguards our best cropping land – other states are now following suit,” Ms Jones said.
“Through this policy, we are protecting our important food bowls across the state.
“We gave a commitment to rural Queensland, particularly communities of the Surat Basin, that we would introduce a policy that would deal with the increasing land use competition in their area.
“Today our government makes good on that commitment.
“From today, new mining projects that will permanently render strategic cropping land unusable in the Protection Areas will not be able to go ahead.”
Jones said the Queensland Protection Areas, in Southern Queensland and the Emerald-Springsure region, have been defined as they are under intense and imminent development pressure.
The Southern Queensland Protection Area will give soils in the Darling Downs, the Granite Belt, the Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys and the South Burnett region the highest level of protection from mining, urban development and other permanent, high impact projects.
Outside these Protection Areas, defined as the Strategic Cropping Land Management Area, projects will need to avoid permanently rendering cropping land unusable and mitigate any unavoidable impacts.
Image courtesy of www.sixdegrees.org.au