MPs told 'Mining captures politics'

"The book authenticates not only landholders' concerns about unacceptable impacts upon their strategic cropping land and aquifers by coal and coal seam gas (CSG), but also concerns about damage to Gladstone Harbour's ecology.

"The contents justify the title, and demonstrate this principle: Capture executive government in Queensland and the regulatory and administrative processes are captured as well".

Lucke, who is now living in northern NSW, says he wants politicians to be confronted by examples of "sweetheart deals' entered into by the QueenslandCabinet over the years.

"The legacy described is a direct consequence of generations of brutal and reckless indifference by politicians.

"My accompanying message to them is, 'Please read with an open mind and then act according to your conscience.'

"Backbenchers need to understand and be properly informed that in Queensland, Executive Government has unbridled powers. Cabinet in multiple instances, operated in a vacuum without proper environmental assessment or consideration of risk analysis, with terrible consequences," Lucke says.

The book serves as both an historical record and a 'precautionary manual'. In addition to the current environmental concerns, it delves back to Mt Larcom district's pioneering era, the later development of limestone mining at the East End Mine in the 1970's and the formation of the East End Mine Action Group of which Lucke is a long-term member..

"The East End Mine / Regulating Agencies dispute continues with the interests of the Gladstone industrial model and a mine privately owned by the world's largest cement company placed ahead of other stakeholders, the district's progress and the environment," Lucke claims.

(The claim relating to the Gladstone industrial model seems to be borne out by a 'freeze' on development in the small Mt Larcom township because it is near the Gladstone State Development Area, set aside for major industrial expansion).

Mrs Cunningham told state parliament that issues covered by the book relate to the viability of farming pursuits and affects on farming families from mining projects.

"It highlights, too, the interaction between rural and urban Queensland, the interaction between business people and these farming communities.

"I would certainly recommend Members spend more than a few minutes reading this book".

Amen to that. While all resource companies and politicians can't be tarred with the same brush, his claims are serious enough to warrant some consideration.