GREENS Senator Christine Milne called for a national commission against corruption during her visit to Maules Creek yesterday.
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Senator Milne said the approvals process for the Whitehaven Mine in the Leard Forest was corrupt from the beginning and was a casestudy for setting up a national ICAC.
She said she wanted an investigation into the combination of approvals of state and federal governments and the political donations and the links with the political process of people in the companies and parliaments involved in the approval of Whitehaven Mine.
“When we are we going to get political donations overhauled?” she said.
Senator Milne visited Maules Creek yesterday to join with 150 protestors, have a look at the area and learn more about the details of the issues of mining and conservation in the Leard Forest.
“I have been wanting to come up here for some time,” she said.
“I am just so distressed about what is effectively the destruction of critically endangered species and compromising water quality all for coal. We are pursuing a rampant coal agenda to the detriment of the environment and this should never have been given the go-ahead in what has been a corrupt process from the start.”
Senator Milne described the situation as devastating after she sat down and spoke with local farmers who had joined the fight against the coal mine.
“Farmers in this area are being run over the top of,” she said.
“The whole thing has been corruptly approved and how is it that the Federal Government did not taken action when the offsets they (Whitehaven Coal) put through proved to not have any validity? Why didn’t they have to go to court for that? There were dodgy deals at the start.”
Senator Milne said the situation was heartbreaking seeing farmers put their heart and soul into their land that they nurture, being taken over by mining companies.
“What’s going to be left here is a massive hole in the ground, contaminated water, farmers unable to get water because the water table will have dropped and all for the enrichment of a few people and the overseas companies who are backing them,” she said.
