Rhetorical question I suppose, but why is it that all Australian governments, state and federal, seem hell-bent on acting in the short-term, treating the country like a quarry, to be sapped of anything that will make a quick buck without regard for the consequences? 

Surely it is enough that coal and CSG mining is continuing apace (let's hope the current State Government's new approach will be an improvement on attitudes past), with the communities and farmland around these mines being destroyed and the health of the people who live/d there impacted on. But the appetite for wealth creation at the expense of environment and community seems insatiable, and now our local area is set to be devastated by the impacts of cyanide processing of ore extracted from an expanded gold-mine at Majors Creek. 

The ramifications of this proposal, something totally different from what was originally approved, are frightening, and are not just restricted to the possible contamination of the vital water supplies of people in the catchment. 

Please let us not allow the promise of jobs, jobs which may not even end up being local, to override the need to make a sensible decision about the long-term health of ourselves and our environment. This community is already mobilising to stand up to the will of big business; I only hope we will be strong enough to overcome.

Catherine Moore

Charleys Forest

via Braidwood