Resources and farmers reap rewards

THE HISTORY and future co-existence of the resources sector and farmers is a tradition that is reaping rewards for those on the land, resource companies and every Queenslander, Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane told the Rural Press Club in Brisbane today.

However, that synergy is being threatened, ironically, not by many of those who live on the land, but by a majority living in the inner suburbs.

“The co-existence model we have in Queensland leads the nation and has been a major wealth creator and regional employer,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“While some states put their heads in the sand, most Queensland farmers have worked with the resources sector, not against it, to thrash out sensible solutions to the hard issues.

“My experience has been that if you work with the resources sector to strike a fair deal, the farmers will bring their rural communities along with them.  And that is what we continue to work on here in Queensland.”

It’s that co-existence and collaboration that provided $2.1 billion in royalties to the Queensland Government last financial year, which helped to fund such things as our infrastructure, police, nurses and teachers and the buildings they occupy. The greatest threat to Queensland’s economic development today is green activism, fuelled by some media that fail to fact check the propaganda fed to them by the radical groups, he said.

“Last week’s rollout of fake news by the Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC was just the most recent in a long line of propaganda published by various news outlets,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“The optimist in me knows that good journalism isn’t dead and that the reason behind no fact-checking is an under-resourced newsroom – but the cynic in me sees a pattern of behaviour from the same journalists at the same news outlets.

“I call on everyone to question and check everything they are told, especially if the consequences have the potential to cause harm, to health, business or reputation.”

www.qrc.org.au

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