John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

How the years fly—quickly. I will take you back to November 2011, when the Nationals released a blueprint on coal seam gas that outlines five key principles covering the environmental, economic and social impact of coal seam gas developments:

1. no coal seam gas development can damage aquifers or water quality,

2. no developments should occur on prime agricultural land,

3. no developments should occur in close proximity to residential areas,

4. landowners deserve a return, not just compensation, from a resource on their land, and

5. real investment must be made back in the communities that generate our resource wealth.

I would like to expand on those principles, one by one. First, 'no coal seam gas development can damage aquifers or water quality': this is a vital issue. The underground water—and I refer to places like Liverpool Plains—is vital. That is some of the best country—I will not say in Australia—in the world. That land is only about three per cent of this planet Earth. It needs to be protected. It is a food bowl for the future generations to come. While I am about this place probably the thing I concentrate on most of all as a senator is the question, what do we do for future generations? I look back at the history. I look back at my family, my grandfather fighting in France during the First World War, putting his life on the line for the democracy we enjoy today, and likewise my late father, Reg. He was rear-gunner in a Lancaster bomber. They developed our land, and it is up to us to protect our land. That is why I was saying only recently that when my wife and I purchased our small farm near Inverell the first thing we did was take a bulldozer into that farm and improve the contour banks. The contour banks were getting flat, which means they faced serious soil erosion. We do not want our soil washed away; we want to protect it.

Point No. 2: 'no developments should occur on prime agricultural land'—and how true that is. I refer again to Liverpool Plains, that great country where I do not think there should be any sort of mining. It should be protected from coal seam gas and coal mining, and I will expand on that in a minute. And No. 3, 'no developments should occur in close proximity to residential areas': if people are there first, those people should be respected. If you build a house, for example, and all of a sudden the council comes along and puts a set of cattle yards alongside your saleyards, then you were there first and you should be compensated. If you happen to buy a house near cattle yards that have been there for many years, then be prepared for the noise and do not expect compensation. It is your decision. But people who were there first should be respected and have peace of life.

The fourth point is on royalties, because this gas used to be owned by the farmers, until the state governments took it off them—the Labor governments in South Australia and New South Wales especially. They should be compensated for their resource or any interruptions, and not just a tuppence or a box of beer but proper compensation, a proper royalty to them. And when those royalties flow into the states they should be putting some of that money back into the community, just like the Royalties for Regions in Western Australia. But what has happened is that this has become a political issue. There is far more politics involved than anything, now.

I want to say this: I went and saw for myself. About eight months ago I went to Santos's works at Narrabri. We went out to the wells they have drilled in the Pilliga Scrub, and Pilliga Scrub it is. I have been fortunate enough to spend all of my life in rural Australia, and I know I can look at land and tell you whether it is good land or it is really ordinary land—what we call 'backwards store wallaby country'. When we went to the well out there in the Pilliga Scrub, it was pretty ordinary country. I do not think you would feed a wether on 15 acres. You might even see the odd wallaroo, but I think they would be battling for a feed. It is very ordinary country.

I went to Santos for one reason: to find out for myself because we hear so much emotion, so many complaints, so many worries et cetera. The group—there was a busload of us—saw the geologists and the description of underground land. I said, 'Now, you prove to me how you will not disrupt or pollute the Artesian Basin catchment here. You prove to me how you will not interfere with underground aquifers.' They took us all through the whole works. We said, 'What about all the salt? What are you going to do with all the salt you pull out? What about the dirty water?' They took us to the water ponds they were building, with three layers of sealant so not a drop leaks through. We said, 'What are you going to do with the water?' 'When it is filtrated, it will be irrigating next door; we will probably grow a lucerne crop.' So they took us right through the whole issue.

The sad thing about it was that the gas they are producing now is flared—the methane gas is just burning away 24/7. You cannot use it for the gas-fired power station at Narrabri, because under the law if that gas has been extracted through exploration, before you are licensed, you are not allowed to use it for commercial use. Instead of just burning the gas 24/7 you could hook it up, in a matter of hours, to the local gas-fired power station and provide electricity for some 300 houses. But no—it just burns away. That, to me, is crazy.

New South Wales imports 95 per cent of its gas. Where does it get the five per cent it has got? It is actually from the AGL site out at Camden, west of Sydney, where they have had a number of wells—I am not sure how many; I will have to go there and look for myself—that have been there for about 19 years providing that gas. It has not been a problem, thank goodness. It has not been a problem and I hope they are doing it right. If there has been a problem it is certainly something I have not heard about. Then several months ago I went up to the Santos operation in Roma, in Queensland. We actually spoke to the landowners. We saw what they were doing. We spoke to the businesses. We spoke to the mayor and the deputy mayor and the councillors. One happens to be in local government and owns land with coal seam gas on his property. We went right through once again: 'Prove to us you're not damaging the water.' That is, to me, such a huge issue.

I found what Senator Lazarus said about people with air quality control, bleeding noses et cetera. That is really concerning, so I am going to make my way to Chinchilla at some stage, too, I can assure you of that, to see for myself. I do have some doubts about that because with the coal seam gas at Roma and Narrabri we did not see any of that. It is the first time I have heard of that. What are the environmental and pollution agencies doing? What is the state government doing? What are we doing? I have not had that come to my office; I have not heard of that before. But if it is true then it is very concerning.

Santos and AGL have assured me in my office here—not far from the chamber; you know where it is—that they will never go onto a farm if the landowner does not want them. I have said to them on many occasions, 'Will you honour that word?' and they have said, 'We certainly will.' When I went to Narrabri, where they were working with the landowners, the landowners were happy—they were getting payments. They were getting a good source of income. I would imagine those in the Roma district would be the same. In fact, it is a source of income which would be very welcome given the drought they have experienced for several years there. We kept saying to them, 'Prove to us you're not damaging this. Prove to us you're not damaging that. Prove to us you're protecting the environment.' One of the reassuring things I did get from them was that they employ their own environmental experts who are, in their very words, far more severe to them than any of the government environmental experts. I said to them, 'If you make one mess of this you'll be wiped out; you'll be shut down.'

I do have faith in Santos as a professional company. I have not visited the other companies. I have heard bad things about other companies. I have faith in AGL as a professional company. One thing I think is most important is that this is not an industry for cowboys. This is an industry for professionals, with geologists, environmentalists—and people who do not drop their cameras! This is vital.

I come back to those issues around protecting things for the future. It has become a very big political issue. I will give you some examples. I want to go back to the Liverpool Plains—those magnificent black soil plains with huge amounts of water underneath them. I started this job in July 2008; in January 2009 we went up and met with the Caroona group. There was former Senator Barnaby Joyce, now agricultural minister; Senator Fiona Nash; Mark Coulton, member for Parkes; and me. We went and met with the people. We took a bit of bark off and shed a bit of skin off; that is part of politics and you take that. But then, we shook hands as adults should do and we agreed to work together.