Southern Highlands farm owners take Hume Coal to court
Four landowners in the NSW hamlet of Sutton Forest have taken the South Korean owned Hume Coal to the Land and Environment Court claiming that Hume cannot get onto their properties due to "significant improvements”.
Under section 31(5) of the Mining Act, significant improvements provide the only ability for landowners in preventing mining companies accessing their properties.
The court will look at the significant improvements issue that can include items such as stock-proof fences, formed roads and tracks, cropped or improved paddocks, within a 200 metre radius of dwellings and 50 metres around gardens.
One of the Southern Highlands property is an equestrian eventing course of Olympic standard owned by Kathy and John Roche, that has been developed over the past 20 years.
Kathy and John were recently named the NSW Eventing Volunteers of the Year.
Kathy was a pharmacist in Moss Vale for many years and John the local doctor, now in his late 80s.
The five day hearing is set to start on September 14 with a site visited scheduled for the Golden Vale Road.
“This case is precedent setting” said Peter Martin, from SHCAG, who has been accredited as the Roche's representative given their ill-health.
“It is the first time that a group of property owners have got together in NSW to challenge a mining company’s ability to access all of their properties for exploration because of the significant improvements.
"These properties are all highly developed and we contend that Hume Coal has no right under s31 to come on and drill holes given the inconvenience for landowners, disruption to day-to-day operations and potential significant damage to the properties concerned.”
The case follows the recent court action where SHCAG P/L took the Minister for Resources and Energy and Hume Coal to the Land and Environment Court challenging Hume’s latest approval to drill 25 more exploration holes in Sutton Forest. The result of that case is not yet known but the judgement is expected within 4 to 6 weeks. Many of the 25 holes were proposed to be drilled on the properties involved in the second legal case.
"This case came about because Hume is forcing all these landowners into arbitration against their will and then refuses to recognise significant improvements on these properties.
"Hume says that it can have its trucks, drill rigs and utes travelling back and forward through the properties at will as long as they don’t drill their holes in these locations. "They also refuse to test this in court but challenge the landowners to do so which is a form of legal intimidation in our view.
"We think this is nonsense and is not the intent of the legislation." Peter Martin said.
POSCO aka HUME Coal have been accused by 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones of playing dirty with the community after they demanded inspection access this week to the Roche property despite formal advisory of its inconvenience to the "poor elderly family."
Undergoing treatment for cancer, Kathy Roche, who with husband John have lived at Sutton Forest for 40 years, says the arbitrator's demands have impacted on her health as well as her husband's.
Alan Jones queried the fairness of the access arbitration process - which he noted ought be suspended pending the court hearing - given emails were being sent at 2am demanding next day access.
