Australia: Workers – Latest Victims of Qld CSG Frenzy, Say Greens

The Australian Greens are saddened that Arrow Energy workers are the latest victims of the Queensland CSG industry’s unsustainable pace, which has been spurred on by government at the expense of other industries and the environment.

“Both the state and federal governments have allowed the CSG industry to expand so quickly that it has proved unsustainable for workers as well as the environment,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.

“Sadly we’ve seen Gladstone tourism and fishing workers suffer already with the big mining companies dredging and dumping in the Great Barrier Reef, and now the industry’s own workers have been left abandoned as well.

“Big mining companies continually over-exaggerate job prospects to get their environmentally destructive projects approved by government, but rarely do those job numbers eventuate.

“Ultimately workers and the environment both suffer from the breakneck pace of the mining industry approvals governments dish out.

“These latest job losses make the environmental damage and the hardship suffered by the Gladstone tourism and fishing industries even more tragic, given the extent of dredging and dumping could prove unnecessary in hindsight.

“The Abbott and Newman governments must stop sacrificing Queensland’s environment and sustainable industries for the sake of the short-term profits of the big mining companies, which mostly flow offshore,” Senator Waters said.

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Press Release, January 21, 2014