Strategic Cropping Land Bill: Qld Passes Law to Curb Mining on Prime Farmlands

Queensland has become the first Australian jurisdiction to enact specific laws aimed at keeping open cut mines out of the best crop-growing areas.

Introduced in October 2011 the Bill passed through the Queensland Parliament last night (1 December 2011) and becomes the first state law primarily targetted at keeping open cut mining out of the best crop-growing areas in the state.

The ABC Rural website quotes Natural Resources Minister Rachel Nolan as saying

"any activity which would permanently damage the land is subject to the new law. The State Government has established a soil science test which allows us to tell right across Queensland exactly where is the best quality agricultural soil . . . As you'd expect, that is a pretty enormous area, running from Mossman all the way down the coast and then some inland areas like around Emerald and around the Darling Downs."

Details of the Bill and its passage to legislation are available for TimeBase subscribers in our LawOne Product.

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