Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that necessary reminder, Deputy President. That is very helpful indeed. I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the decision by the New South Wales Mining Warden permitting BHP Billiton to proceed with exploration for coal near and under prime food-growing floodplain at Caroona, in the centre of the Liverpool Plains, near Gunnedah;

(b)

acknowledges the undiminished opposition to this exploration by local farmers and other members of the local communities and the independent Member for New England in the House of Representatives, Mr Tony Windsor; and

(c)

calls on the Government:

(i)

to exercise all legal and ethical options available to cease the exploration activities of BHP Billiton at Caroona until the completion of the independent expert evaluation of the hydrology of the region, and also

(ii)

to cease the granting of all exploration licences for the purpose of resource and mineral extraction and undertake further independent studies into impacts of mining on the surficial and underground aquifer systems which form part of the Murray-Darling system if significant risks are identified in the expert evaluation currently underway.