APPEA: Senator Joyce Wrong on CSG (Australia)

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has today again unashamedly continued to misrepresent Australia’s system of mineral and resource ownership.

APPEA’s Chief Operating Officer – Eastern Australia, Rick Wilkinson, said: “As with all underground resources in Australia, coal seam gas (CSG) reserves are owned by the Crown – not the person owning the land under which they sit.

“And as such, it is governments that determine how Australia’s mineral and petroleum reserves are to be developed, and the return to be paid to the owners of the resource: the people of Australia.

“The coal seam gas industry is expected to pay $850 million every year in state taxes to the Queensland Government. And this does not include the significant amounts of company tax that will be paid to the Australian Government over the life of the projects.”

As the Queensland Premier said in her press statement of September 17 2009: “That’s $850 million a year for more schools and hospitals. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Payments from CSG companies to landholders are not a form of resource taxation. They ensure that landholders are not financially disadvantaged by CSG extraction activities carried out on their property. And contrary to Senator Joyce’s claims, the CSG industry has good relationships with Queensland landholders, with more than 1,400 voluntary land access agreements already in place.

New industries offering employment, well paid careers, and regional investment and training are few and far between. The CSG industry is a major employer and in the coming years, will create around 18,000 jobs in Queensland alone.

Far from being a threat to regional Queenslanders, the CSG industry is an unprecedented opportunity to diversify and sustain the economies of their towns and regions.

[mappress]

Source: APPEA , August 9, 2011;