Broadacre farm group AgForce said the current protest against Shell/Petro China’s Coal Seam Gas (CSG) exploration at Kerry in the Scenic Rim area south of Brisbane highlights the impacts this industry has on the day-to-day lives of Queenslanders right across the state.

Policy director Drew Wagner visited the protest today to explain AgForce’s concerns about the resources sector, particularly the escalating CSG industry.

“The latest action shows CSG is no longer an issue affecting areas 300 kilometres away across the Great Divide, but is now marching closer and closer to the Greater Brisbane area,” Mr Wagner said.

“The emotions and concerns about potential environmental consequences of this company’s activities at Kerry echo what we’ve seen for some years now across high quality agricultural land right around Queensland.”

AgForce sympathises with the farmers, tourism operators and locals around Beaudesert and again calls on the government and the Opposition to take community frustrations about this sector seriously.

“AgForce is not anti-CSG and recognises that the industry may deliver economic benefits to certain regions, but at what cost to the environment and longer-term agricultural production? Where is the balance?” Mr Wagner said.

“The questions the Scenic Rim community is asking about this industry are questions AgForce has raised for many years now without adequate answers.”

AgForce again calls on all sides of government to set clear boundaries on where the CSG industry can and can’t develop.

“The government says the gas sector is tightly regulated, but current laws only force companies to ‘make good’ damage they do to the environment after it’s done, which it too little too late as far as AgForce is concerned.

“What’s also not commonly understood is that recently introduced Strategic Cropping Land laws don’t protect farm land from CSG development as the industry isn’t deemed to permanently alienate the land from agricultural production.”