Glenn Lazarus (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Forty years ago, Australia implemented one of the country's most progressive and important pieces of legislation: the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The act aims to ensure that Australians of all backgrounds are treated equally and have the same opportunities. I am proud to be Australian and I am supportive of our commitment to multiculturalism and unexclusiveness; but I know we need to do much more if we are to ensure that everyone in our great country is able to access and pursue the same opportunities and be treated with curtesy, respect and appropriate consideration.

Our very own Australian Human Rights Commission has a mission of human rights: everyone, everywhere and every day. Human rights should be basic rights. Sadly, in Australia this is not the case. In my home state of Queensland, it would seem landholders and farmers have no rights. They have no rights whatsoever. Coal seam gas mining companies can make a way onto farmers' land and commence mining coal seam gas without any approval needed from the landholder. Queensland landholders who attempt to resist CSG mining companies coming onto their land are subject to bullying, harassment and intimidation and are threatened with being taken to the Land Court of Queensland. To make matters worse, landholders then face the threat of court costs and fines for simply trying to protect their lands and their families from the devastating impact of CSG mining.

Communities across Queensland are turning into gas fields. I travelled to regional Queensland to see the devastation firsthand. The way this country is treating farmers and landholders has brought me to my knees. CSG mining depletes the earth of its water, dries up wells and bores, contaminates what little water there is left and poisons the earth. People affected by CSG mining are becoming ill, their children are waking up with blood noses, their animals are dying and the value of their land is plummeting.

When people seek help from the government or the CSG mining companies involved, they are made to jump through hoops or simply ignored. The way this country is treating Queensland farmers and landholders is nothing short of criminal. Communities across Australia are desperate to stop CSG mining. They want CSG miners off their land and off the land around them. There is plenty of gas available via other means. This country should not be allowing multinational companies to rape our land, harm our people and decimate our natural resources all for profits which go overseas.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss was quoted as saying that what the CSG industry in Queensland had provided was a valuable economic boost to regional areas, as well as revenue for the Queensland government at a time when coal royalties were declining. He was also quoted as saying that the CSG mining industry was now well accepted in rural communities and provided employment in towns. This is the most disgraceful, insulting and ignorant thing I have ever heard. The majority of Queensland communities, or Australian communities for that matter, do not want CSG mining. A quick Google search could tell you this. If Warren Truss seriously thinks that revenue is more important than the health of our people, then he should resign immediately. It is clear that Warren Truss, our very own Deputy Prime Minister, has no regard for the human rights of the people of Queensland, because if he did he would not say such stupid things.

Australia needs leadership. Our country needs to improve our commitment to human rights and the government needs to understand that Queensland landholders and farmers have human rights too. It is not appropriate to turn a blind eye to the damage that is being done to the people of Queensland. Revenue should never be put before the health of our people. This is why I am calling on the government to undertake a royal commission into the human impact of CSG mining, ban fracking and put a hold on any further CSG mining projects. I have a petition that over 60,000 people have signed.

We may be celebrating 40 years of a legislation commitment to human rights, but we urgently need to start understanding that the people of Queensland have rights as well. Human rights should come before money, before political donations from CSG mining companies and before mining revenue. (Time expired)