MICHAEL ROCHE: There continues to be much media commentary devoted to the ‘contest’ between agriculture and mining in Queensland, yet on the ground, it’s a perception being increasingly challenged by farmers and resource developers.
In parts of Queensland, farmers, oil and gas producers and miners have been working side-by-side for up to 50 years, and while resource sector growth is challenging accepted norms in new regions, the message is getting through.
The smartest people in the room are not the ones advocating moratoriums but the ways and means of ensuring that the state’s two great export industries strengthen what is already a long and productive association.
I have come away from visits with farmers in southern and central Queensland with two resounding messages for minerals and energy developers:
That’s the message I am taking to my members because they are the headline issues for farming families that have helped shape new land access laws and the Queensland Government’s proposed strategic cropping land (SCL) policy.
While there’s still work to be done meeting the aspirations of all landholders and resource developers, one aspect of the so-called ‘contest’ needs to be resolved.
That is the notion that land disturbed by mining and gas is testing the long-term viability of agriculture and according to alarmists, threatening Australia’s food security.
The facts are that resource developments in Queensland represent 0.09 percent of the state’s land mass, compared with grazing (86%), nature conservation (4.5%) and cropping (2.1%).
It’s remarkably easy to claim that 80 percent of the state is under some form of ‘resource tenure’ after double and triple counting parcels of land with multiple applications, which could include fossicking or geothermal exploration.
The fact is that over the past 150 years in Queensland, 0.56 percent of exploration permits have actually made the transition to mining approval.
At 200-1 odds, very few exploration targets result in a project as illustrated by actual land disturbance data.
We understand that there is concern about the impact on food production from growth of the mining and gas industries.
We also understand that there are areas of prime agricultural land and existing urban development where mining should never occur.
On the Darling Downs, the QRC has accurately calculated the land area used by mining and gas industries now and compared it with what it could be by 2020 if all projects proposed for the region went ahead.
The results speak for themselves.
Today, the mining and gas industries use 10,000 of the nine million hectares in the Darling Downs statistical division – or around 0.1 percent of total land mass. By 2020, that figure could grow to 60,000 hectares – or less than 0.7 percent.
Put another way, if the Darling Downs was the entire Gabba stadium, the resources sector today would occupy 24 seats, and in 2020, 139 seats.
The impact on food production from the Darling Downs reflects those findings.
Again, assuming that every mooted project proceeds, resource sector land use would result in a .01 percent reduction in Australia’s wheat output and a 0.4 percent fall in chick pea production.
Instead of all the unproductive talk about resources versus agriculture, we should be focusing on working together to boost the state and the nation’s prosperity.
* Michael Roche is the Chief Executive of the Queensland Resources Council.
