MORE than 80 concerned landholders packed the Kogan Community Centre on Saturday, following the Queensland Government’s recent designation of an extended investigation area over 47,000 hectares of farm land around Kogan.
The community meeting was in reaction to contamination from the Linc Energy UCG site and was hosted by Marland Law, the law firm acting for the group action against Linc Energy and the Queensland Government.
Tom Marland, principal of Marland Law said it was likely landholders would have to sue the government to protect their property and families.
“Unfortunately, it would appear that to bring accountability to government decision making processes, this is what we are going to have to do,” Mr Marland said.
“The fact that there has been no formal announcement by the government in relation to the additional 47,000ha shows their contempt for the people they are meant to protect and demonstrates their ongoing negligence in the management of this disaster.
“Right now, we don’t know where the government have tested and what they have found. What we do know is they have felt it necessary to extend the investigation area by 47,000ha. They don’t do that lightly.
“We are now looking at over 100,000ha or 250,000 acres of prime farm land that has been placed in limbo as a result of an ill-conceived, highly risky and appallingly manage resource development that the Government themselves instigated.
“We are currently investigating the possibility of adding the new area to our current group action.”
Mr Marland said the group would be reporting back to the community around the end of April.
The Kogan Community centre was overflowing with concerned landholders who have been battling with coal and coal seam gas development for decades and now faced the threat of contamination.
Mr Marland said landholders should contact the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection directly to request a farm health assessment be conducted on their property. Affected landholders can email DEHP on: ehpinvestigation@ehp.gov.au
