John Lenders MP in Parliament 13/03/12

Adjournment Debate - Legislative Council 13 February 2012

Mr LENDERS (Southern Metropolitan) — The matter I raise on the adjournment tonight is for the attention of Peter Walsh, the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security and Minister for Water. It is in relation to AGD Operations, a company owned by Mandalay Resources that employs 160 people at the Costerfield mine, 50 kilometres east of Bendigo. Ms Darveniza and I visited the mine last Tuesday after being asked to come by some of the local farmers. The area has been mined since the 1860s. Gold and antimony have been mined there for many years. What is causing friction in the community is the conflicting priorities of agriculture and mining, which have come to the fore.

Ms Darveniza and I met with an amazing man called Gil Cochrane. He and his group of local farmers were quite upset by the ‘dewatering’, as they described it, by the mine. We have a mine that has drawn on water for a long time, and we have had an application to Goulburn-Murray Water for a greater ability to draw on water for the mine — water for the purpose of keeping down dust and a whole range of mining processes. 

Gil Cochrane outlined the farmers’ point of view. His family has been there since European settlement — they had the original selection — and they are saying that the springs have gone dry for the first time that they can in their collective memory recall. They are certainly of the view that the aquifer has been overdrawn, and where from the farmers’ point of view this is becoming quite a challenge is that farmers who have been drawing on the springs for decades are now having to truck in water for their stock and their vines. It has become more expensive for them, and it is a priority issue. 

The issue I am raising tonight for the minister is that this conflict between agriculture and mining has come to the fore at Costerfield. The farmers certainly would like to meet him to outline their concerns to him — —

Hon. D. M. Davis — What is the name of the firm? 

Mr LENDERS — The name of the firm is AGD Operations. It operates the Costerfield mine, and it is run by Mandalay Resources. The action I seek from the minister is that he go to Costerfield, which is, as I said, 50 kilometres east of Bendigo in the Rodney electorate — perhaps the local member might go with him — and actually sit down with the farmers there, see firsthand this conflict between agriculture and mining and try to resolve some of the issues. They have issues for the Minister for Energy and Resources and they have issues for the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, but as an advocate for them I urge Minister Walsh to go to Costerfield and meet with the local farmers.


But Minister Walsh never did. 

on page 2510 of Hansard he is recorded as saying

I am  aware of community  concerns  regarding the Mandalay  Resources operation,
including  potential impacts  on  local groundwater as  a  result of  dewatering
activities. I  have  asked  Mr  John  Mitas,  acting director,  earth  resources
regulation, of the Department of Primary Industries, to visit the site and speak
with both Mandalay Resources and community members regarding these matters.
Thank you for raising these matters with me.

Yup, that's right. He sent Mr John Mitas instead. Oh dear.