ONE of the hottest political and environmental issues confronting both governments and industry at the present time is the little matter of coal seam gas.
It’s not physically bothering property owners around our part of the world, and for that we need to be grateful.
The fact is that our geological makeup means there is no such gas around here.
What is bothering many people, though, is the revelation which has come to light for the first time that exploration companies can literally ‘invade’ anyone’s private property to carry out test drills — with or without permission.
And this is a legal right condoned by governments.
Energy resources are clearly important but so is the right of landholders to remain master of their domain.
Marching in uninvited is hardly the Australian way, irrespective of the rights or wrongs of the argument.
Once we forfeit these rights we truly are on the way to becoming a socialist state.
There are too many unanswered questions relating to salinity and impacts on the water table for governments to ignore these concerns.
We might not have coal seam gas around here but who knows what the implications are for the future with other resources.
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