“The community has rejected water mining,” said Ballina MP Tamara Smith.
“In Alstonville, farmers and residents are worried about the impact on the shared groundwater and in the Uki, locals are opposed to the daily barrage of water trucks disturbing their community and the impacts the extraction will have on the natural environment.”
“Water
mining is not sustainable development, it brings no jobs or profit to
the region and threatens our water. Tweed and Ballina Councils have very
little choice but to approve
development applications for water mining or face challenges in the
Land and Environment Court,” said Ms Smith.
Greens
candidate for Lismore Sue Higginson said, “It’s great the Nationals
here have finally become concerned about the impacts of water mining on
the community, but if they
are genuine, they will join us in calling on the Planning Minister to
end this land use conflict rather than sending it to an unnecessary
inquiry and conveniently delaying it until after the State Election.”
“Calling
for inquiries and moratoriums in this matter is risky for Councils that
have legal obligations to assess developments in defined timeframes. It
is ill-conceived and
shows a complete lack of understanding of development and water law.”
“Earlier
this year the State Government denied Tweed Council the right to
prohibit water mining under its Local Environment Plan, putting it in a
position where doing so would
put it at risk of legal action.”
“We
need a consistent approach across the Northern Rivers, with Ballina and
Tweed Councils adopting the same prohibition on water mining as Lismore
and Byron Councils,” said
Ms Higginson.
Wed, Nov 7 
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