Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to a great corporate citizen of the Northern Territory. I am speaking about Xstrata Zinc’s McArthur River Mine. McArthur River Mine need to be congratulated on the way they have conducted themselves over the past few years and, most recently, their efforts to expand their mine to an open pit. They intend to spend around $110 million developing that open pit mine. McArthur River Mine are a great creator of jobs in the Northern Territory and are a great supporter of their local community. They subsidise the community in a whole range of different areas. They put money into the health centre and the local school. They also fund the local recreation club and a barge service, which operates from their port, which is half-owned by Aboriginals. Most of the food and groceries are subsidised in the township by way of the McArthur River Mine. They allow the township to use part of the trucking service that brings in the food to the township of Borroloola.

McArthur River Mine have been, I suppose, somewhat controversial of late because of their plan to further develop the mine with an open pit and to divert the river some 90 kilometres downstream in an area that is dry for nine-tenths of the year. It is only at the height of the wet season that there is water running through that river. Needless to say, it has created some controversy in the Northern Territory. Opponents of the mine, led by the Northern Territory Environment Centre, say that the sky is going to fall in and the mine should not go ahead. This flies in the face of rational thought.

McArthur River Mine have put a huge amount of work into their environmental assessments, environmental impact statements and environmental reports, which are all publicly available. They are very open and accountable, and all of those reports can be seen at their website, www.mcarthurriver.com.au. It is certainly worth having a look at, because it shows the effort the mine have gone to to ensure the environment remains in pristine condition. They are a great company and I will be adding my support to their efforts— (Time expired)