A SYDNEY Law School energy and natural resources expert says a collective bargaining agreement for farmers will help them co-exist with miners and their operations.
In her new book, Agricultural land use and natural gas extraction conflicts, Dr Madeline Taylor said the move towards renewables, in particular the expansion of the Liquified Natural Gas market, has brought about tensions between miners and producers whose land and livelihoods can be irreparably damaged by such activities.
Dr Taylor posits a State-centric model, rather than the somewhat ad hoc adaptive management approach, as a way to level the playing field and ensure the best interest of all parties involved.
“Instead of having this linear relationship between State, landholder and unconventional gas licence holder, collective bargaining could actually create a pyramid-like relationship,” she said.
With the state at the centre of regulation, a collective bargaining arrangement could give farmers agency in the determination of their future, and the future of Australia’s food security.
It would provide conduct standards for negotiation, guide parties’ behaviours and keep procedures transparent and effective.
Dr Taylor argues that it is in the public interest to develop our natural resources as much as it is to nurture and sustain our agricultural industry – and that these are not mutually exclusive aims.
“Rather, they are in line with the State’s obligation to develop its natural resources in the best interest of its citizens – that is the right of self-determination in international law,” Dr Taylor said.
“If we had regulation in place, we could have some very sustainable and equitable co-existence – which is the aim of all parties at hand.
“In an era of climate change, a transitioning energy sector and a struggling agricultural sector – and with new major resources projects like Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine on the horizon – it is vitally important that practitioners and policymakers take the time to consider the coexistence of farming and mining.”
