Observer/Zinc Newspaper Headline

Kerri-Anne Mesner

HAVING to stop work on a liquefied natural gas pipeline to Gladstone came as no surprise to me yesterday.

The announcement from QGC about the fact the company had stopped work on its major gas pipeline, between its Surat Basin gas fields and Gladstone, because some environmental plans for soil and species management had not been approved only goes to prove a point a tad further.

We've already seen evidence of LNG companies overly eager to get into Gladstone and start building multi-million dollar industrial components with offices popping up all over town.

And you've only got to ask a few people on the street to find out how it's affecting them or their loved ones.

You'd probably find 60% have been affected through the rental market, which is now resembling something of an auction situation as seen in bigger cities such as Melbourne and Sydney.

But what I don't understand is how the work was able to commence to start with?

Surely anyone in business has a ‘ticks and crosses' stage of a project where they double check they have all the approvals lined up?

The other thing that is gnawing at me is why it took a week for the company to go public and inform people of the situation.

As we sit here and wait for the housing plans each LNG company is required to do under the Environment Impact Assessment approvals, we are already seeing evidence of the conditions of the EIS approvals not being met (according to Gladstone Regional Council, which recently commented on QGC's draft integrated housing strategy for the Queensland Curtis LNG Project).

If the LNG companies are already getting away with non-compliance, how can we be certain the bigger issues are going to be addressed in the future?

I also want to know who is the watchdog of all this industrial development in Central Queensland that the politicians at State and Federal Government levels are all very pleased to see happening?

Is the safety and welfare of Gladstone region and Central Queensland residents being compromised yet again by the state's and the nation's leaders?

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