There'll be a lot of publicity today, indeed the story is front page, about the Senate Committee report into coal seam gas.
This is the report headed by the quite remarkable and often quixotic New South Wales Liberal Bill Heffernan.
Now while what is being reported is of significance, the disturbing thing is that, as with the Murray Darling Basin report, the whole focus seems to be on what's called the environment, almost as if prime agricultural and grazing land wasn't part of the environment.
Now what is being said is correct and terrifying in itself.
There'll be a lot of publicity today, indeed the story is front page, about the Senate Committee report into coal seam gas.
This is the report headed by the quite remarkable and often quixotic New South Wales Liberal Bill Heffernan.
Now while what is being reported is of significance, the disturbing thing is that, as with the Murray Darling Basin report, the whole focus seems to be on what's called the environment, almost as if prime agricultural and grazing land wasn't part of the environment.
Now what is being said is correct and terrifying in itself.
That the 60 billion dollar coal seam gas industry is "a relatively short term prospect".
And the inquiry found it may not be worth the cost to agriculture and the environment.
Now just as there was a Parliamentary Committee report in 2004 which said the Government should cease buying water from farmers, and that report was ignored.
So too does this report say that coal seam gas development be suspended in areas tapping the Great Artesian Basin in Queensland and New South Wales.Now remember that the Murray Darling Basin covers a million square kilometres of south east Australia.
It is 14 per cent of the country.
And it underpins the nation's food bowls.
Well, back to this report and it says correctly that approvals for a vast network of gas wells, refineries and bulk export terminals in Queensland were "given prematurely".
It says the pace of coal seam gas development had outstripped the science on its impact.
And then it says this, "Individual gas wells have a life of about 15 years. The industry is likely to be worked out in the next 50 years.
"The industry must not be allowed to undermine or permanently compromise the long term future of other sectors, most notably agriculture and the environment".
Now I've been saying this for months.
Watch for Government to defend itself at 100 miles an hour.
Because the Senate Committee said approvals for new coal seam gas projects might have to be delayed and exploration suspended in some areas "while a research-based understanding of geology, ground water, aquifers and soil is developed".What is more, and reinforcing what I have been saying, the committee found that agricultural land should be preserved on the basis of its productive capacity.
And don't swallow any of this garbage that Queensland and New South Wales are already doing that, because I'm telling you they're not, no matter how many noises the Queensland Government will make today in its defence.
This report warns that it is "unreasonable and unwise" to expose food production to the risk of long term damage from coal seam gas and it is "unreasonable and unwise" to force efficient farmers to significantly change practices to accommodate the gas industry.
And Senator Heffernan is arguing what I'm arguing, that no one is saying there should not be an industry, but to quote Senator Heffernan, "We are saying to proceed with great caution while we get across the detail of the impacts of this industry ...
"It seems to me," says Bill Heffernan, "the industry has got well ahead of the knowledge of the long term impacts, certainly the long term legal and financial liabilities of any damage that's done."
Now you can forget the Julia Gillard promise last week to create an expert scientific committee et cetera, and she cut a deal with Windsor and Oakeshott.
The Heffernan report is talking about the here and now.
Senator Heffernan has said that granting all of these mining companies licences to mine for coal seam gas before the consequences of that mining are known is "either woolly-headed or irresponsible".
The report talks about between 18 and 40,000 coal seam gas wells eventually to be operational in Queensland and it highlights the likely replication of that in places like the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales.It highlights that one of the causes for concern is the extraction of huge volumes of water as part of the production process, "All of which may have a long term impact on agriculture, rural communities and the environment".
It highlights what I have long said, that the industry will extract more than 7,500 gigalitres of water from the Murray Darling river system, a third of its average annual flow.It talks about huge volumes of salt and brine produced as a by-product and acknowledges that much of this can't be disposed of in the short term, and this stuff destroys soil production.
Well, they don't like it and the bureaucratic vandals in Queensland have rushed out to say that all their projects have been subject to two years of public consultation and scientific review.
That, my friends, is absolute garbage.
This whole industry has been handled atrociously.
Mining companies have been given a green light and food security, public health, water contamination, the dewatering of the aquifers and environmental damage have all been sidelined.
So what's to happen now?
I'll tell you what will happen today.
Gutless Governments will wriggle and squirm.
But the Senate Committee report is there for all to see.
It's the public who must have the final say.
