THE Queensland Resources Council is extremely concerned to see the broadening of the work of the select committee into Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis before the first inquiry has been finalised.
 
QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said to change the scope at this stage is unhelpful.
 
“It adds even greater uncertainty for all parties involved and further delays outcomes to the affected coal miners,” Mr Macfarlane said.  
 
“Industry is already taking pro-active steps to address dust levels on mine sites and we are working with unions and governments to ensure levels are kept below the regulated limits.
 
“Industry has also worked proactively to make sure that concerned retired workers, and workers who are no longer coal mining, are offered screening for the disease.
 
“Industry must have confidence in the medical assessments that our workers undergo. It is now clear that the advice the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), industry and unions were receiving from many medical specialists, especially radiologists from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCAR) simply wasn’t good enough.
 
“There are examples of GPs in Rockhampton and Mackay diagnosing cases that the radiologists had missed. This is simply not good enough," he said.
 
“There must be a significant improvement in the standard of medical assessments that our coal workers are required to undergo. We want nothing less than the world’s best practice when it comes to the industry. It is vital the radiologists are highly skilled and using the best equipment that is available to make sure that we are getting every case at its earliest stages."
 
The committee’s first report is now not expected until late May and the date of the final report has been extended to September.

www.qrc.org.au

ends

LOCAL COUNCILS can apply for up to $5million in funding to support smart tech projects for their communities.

THE LATEST campaign by activists seeking to derail Adani’s proposed Queensland Carmichael Coal Project has again missed the point by using the signatories of dozens of successful, well-paid Australian identities to argue against a project that would significantly benefit the less fortunate.

The campaign, organised by millionaire businessman and serial activist Geoffrey Cousins, has seen a number of successful business people, musicians and former sportsmen and Greens Party senators, sign a letter to Gautam Adani claiming his company’s proposed project ‘does not have wide public support in Australia’.

“There are a number of well-known Australians among the signatories to this petition. No-one begrudges them their successes and any wealth that may have come as a result, but it must be remembered that the Adani project will provide enormous benefits to people and communities who are doing it much tougher,” AMMA chief executive, Steve Knott AM, said.

“During the construction phase, the Carmichael coal mine and railway will inject around $21 billion into the Queensland economy, provide around 10,000 jobs, countless opportunities for small and medium businesses along the supply chain and create a real buzz of economic activity in many rural communities.

“This potential comes in an environment where Australia’s unemployment has risen again to 5.9 per cent – another 6,400 people were made jobless in February alone - and underemployment is staggeringly high with 1.1 million Australians saying they do not have enough work.

“Disproportionate levels of young people who are unemployed or underemployed in Australia are leading to significant social issues such as crime, drug abuse and welfare dependence.

“In addition, the Carmichael Coal Project will help more than 300 million people living in India without electricity and still cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung and crop waste, which the World Health Organisation attributes to more than four million premature deaths each year.

“This project has been through years of delays, challenges and vexatious litigation by misinformed activist groups. It is subject to more than 200 strict environment conditions that will ensure no impact on the Great Barrier Reef, and has had bi-partisan support from Liberal and Labor state and federal governments.

“It is time to drop the misguided activism that fails to consider the facts around the Carmichael Coal Project and to support Adani in getting this significantly positive development off-the-ground.”

www.amma.org.au

ends