The issue of the rights of farmers and miners has heated up considerably over recent days, with all sides of politics pointing fingers to avoid responsibility for what is undoubtedly a difficult issue. Perhaps the most confusing commentary on this issue has come from Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who on the one hand has stated that gas production will be essential for Australia to reduce greenhouse emissions and for export, but on the other hand has highlighted global food insecurity and the big potential that exists for Australian agriculture to feed the world.
In a doorstop interview, Minister Emerson was very keen to criticise those who suggest some controls over coal seam gas exploration and mining should be considered especially when the area in question is productive agricultural land or involves risks to underground water resources. Some extracts from that interview follow;QUESTION: Does opposition to coal-seam gas potentially undermine the effectiveness of your carbon package that you brought down last month?
EMERSON: Well indeed. Because coal-seam gas and natural gas more generally is regarded as the transition fuel to a low-carbon future, to a clean-energy future, efforts to prevent the development of gas in this country are inconsistent with the transition to a low-carbon future. That is a fact not only in Australia but around the world. I've just come back from China. China is still very, very hungry for Australian energy resources, as is Korea, as is Japan, as are most countries of East Asia.
QUESTION: So turning on its head, Minister, do you support miners having an unchecked right to go and explore for minerals, gases and so on as long as it's not something that they have direct control of – i.e. in the soil?EMERSON: What I support is the role of the states in making these decisions and the willingness of the Commonwealth to work with the states on these issues. For the best part of a hundred years or even more we have actually had essentially a cooperative approach on the issue of mineral exploration in Australia. Mineral exploration in Australia overwhelmingly occurs either on freehold land or on leasehold land and in those circumstances there usually would be consultation with the freehold owners or the leaseholders. .... "
QUESTION: What's your view on Barry O'Farrell's moratorium on fracking?EMERSON: Well again these are ultimately matters for the state but I would urge everyone in Australia to accept that coal-seam gas exploration and development as a whole is in this country's national interest. Why? Because the world is turning to gas as the transition fuel to a low-carbon future, to a clean-energy future. We are sitting on vast reserves of natural gas in this country and why would you devalue them by making completely irresponsible statements, reckless statements, risky statements as Mr Abbott has made.
The tenor of these remarks suggests the Minister has no patience with those who wish to consider whether some restrictions are needed on the coal seam gas industry, citing Australia's need to reduce greenhouse emissions and the possibility of exports to China as the key matters that should be the focus of policymakers in this matter.
Then, on the same day, the Minister delivered the Sir John Crawford Memorial address at Parliament House. Excerpts from that speech follow;
Around the world one billion people already go to bed hungry every night.
That's one in seven of our fellow human beings.
Images from the refugee camps on the border between Somalia and Kenya are a daily reminder of the suffering in the Horn of Africa.
World food prices spiked in 2008, with the price of rice trebling and the price of wheat and palm oil doubling.
Food riots broke out in more than a dozen countries.
Better seasonal conditions and the global recession caused an easing in food prices for a couple of years, but now they are surging again.
Rising food prices have been a contributing factor in the Arab Spring, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt and now in several other Arab countries.
Rising food prices explain much of China's 6.5 per cent inflation rate and Indonesia is worried about the impact of rising food prices on the poor.
Food shortages and high food prices would be a powerful force for instability within nations and potentially a source of conflict between them."
"Pessimists and political opportunists see the desire for food security of major emerging countries as a threat. In truth, it is an unsurpassed opportunity for Australian farmers.Over the last quarter century Australia has established itself as a reliable supplier in meeting Asia's minerals and energy security needs. In the next quarter century Australia can establish itself as a reliable supplier in meeting Asia's food security needs."
"The world's need for food security to the middle of the 21st Century will open up exciting new commercial opportunities for the development of Australian agriculture."
"As the real price of food continues to rise, ideas that have lacked a commercial basis will gain one. Water catchment and conservation proposals that have been dismissed or never conceived at pre-existing food prices may become viable in a world seeking food security.
At higher real food prices, technologies and infrastructure to lift the productive capacity of Australia's rangelands may come into play.
So rather than diverting existing food supplies into foreign investors' home markets, a visionary approach to the food security issue would involve growing more food from more productive land holdings in countries such as Australia."
"Through a visionary approach to meeting the region's food security needs, rural and regional centres could expand, boosting regional development in Australia and taking the population pressure of our big cities."
There does seem to be some inconsistency in the two sets of remarks made by the Minister. If future global food insecurity is seen as such a huge and important opportunity, then perhaps - just perhaps - there is reason for some degree of caution in managing the interaction between mining and farming, and thinking a bit more log-term when it comes to making decisions about 'acceptable' risks.
To paraphrase an old saying, perhaps it may not always be possible to have ones mining revenue cake and eat food too!
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