FARMERS have hit the pavement in Bendigo to advocate for their farms against the proposed Goshen mineral sands mine.
The issue was one of many raised at the rally held outside the Rural Press Club of Victoria lunch as Premier Jacinta Allen made an address, along with the Victorian to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) and solar and wind farms.
Mine Free Mallee Farms (MFMF) spokesperson Craige Kennedy said awareness was growing in rural communities of the impact of the proposed mines.
“We were just trying to get our message across to Jacinta that we’re not happy with a few of these proposals, but as we can see from the footage on the news, she just dismissed that as these projects will be for the greater good and wasn’t too concerned about the impacts on regional communities,” Mr Kennedy said.
“There’s general concern around the state of imposition of infrastructure and projects on regional communities and people living on the land.
“Speakers at the rally talked about how lives have been impacted by the devaluation of their properties, the lowering of the standard of living in regional communities and the future of agriculture in the state.”
Ms Allen said in a statement that she respected and understood that communities wanted to be part of the journey and have their voices heard.
“We have to make this energy transition and we have to move through it in an efficient and orderly way, but in a quicker way because no one is more exposed to the devastating consequences of a changing climate than farmers and primary producers,” she said.
“These are not rainfall-dependent jobs – they’re jobs that are there for the long term and jobs that are there for the decades ahead of the community.”
Minerals Council Australia Victoria executive director James Sorahan told The Guardian that minerals exploration companies could not access agricultural land without their permission.
“An Exploration or Mining Licence holder must work with landowners and seek their full agreement before a Mining Licence is worked on,” he said.
Mr Kennedy said coming together with rural people impacted by projects around the state demonstrated to him the strength communities had.
“The method of these companies to come in and separate these communities and isolate people can be alleviated by communities sticking together and communicating,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve formed our Mine Free Mallee Farm group: so people can get together and feel like they’re not on their own going through these proposals.
“Even though there can be different topics that people are concerned about, if we come together as regional communities we can have a voice.
“Whether it’s listened to is another thing, but if you stick together and feel like you’ve got support it may help people feel like they’re not on their own.”
