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We'd all be better off if farmers had the right to say NO to miners

Australia is endowed with vast reserves of mineral and energy resources lying deep below ground. Historically, Australian governments have claimed that our collective prosperity depends on these resources and have exercised ultimate control of what lies below. Governments then grant rights of exploration and access to land otherwise used for productive purposes by the nation’s farmers and graziers. Despite helping to feed the nation and preserve a distinctive way of rural life, farmers have no right to keep the miners off their land. Nor can farmers exercise control over how the extractive industries affect a vital commons—the quality of our water. As the need for food security intensifies, is it time to grant famers new legal entitlements to control access to their land? Would this serve the public interest—with famers acting as stewards of the public good? Or would this simply allow farmers to enrich themselves trading public goods for their private interest?

Speakers

Speakers to be announced.

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, Dr Longstaff worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, GEMCO, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts. His book Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of the Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. He is Chairman of Woolworths Limited Corporate Responsibility Panel and AMP Capital Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee and serves as Member on a number of Board Committees.