We’ve just heard that the government is due to introduce the Mining and Petroleum Legislation Amendment (Land Access) Bill 2010 in the NSW Legislative Assembly thursday (22nd April).

This clearly shows Minister Macdonald has no regard for the law or the Supreme Court of this State.

The court uncovered a regime in NSW where miners have for years been allowed to enter private land, flout the law and take short cuts with the environment and landholders rights. Now that they’ve been caught out, the government’s reaction isn’t to uphold the law but instead to totally rewrite it to benefit the powerful mining lobby.

The Minister’s changes would legalise the very behaviour from miners which the NSW Supreme Court found not only threatened the environment but undermines the rights of landholders, financial institutions and many other parties.

The message from Minister Macdonald is clear – mining is king in NSW and let nothing stand in its way including the law.