Planning Minister Stokes to speak at climate conference wanting to seize control of ‘the driverless train’
Straight after the rejection of a $300 million coal mine that would have created 1100 jobs Planning Minister Rob Stokes has been billed as the keynote speaker at an activist group’s “climate emergency” conference.
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Straight after the rejection of a $300 million coal mine that would have created 1100 jobs Planning Minister Rob Stokes was set to be the keynote speaker at an activist group’s “climate emergency” conference.
But last night Mr Stokes dramatically backed away from the “I, human in the climate emergency” event after being contacted by The Daily Telegraph, which offered to pay his airfare to talk to devastated locals in the Bylong Valley instead.
Last week the Independent Planning Commission cited “long-lasting environmental” impacts from burning the coal in South Korea for rejecting the $300 million Bylong Valley coal mine which would have created 650 construction jobs and 450 permanent jobs over its 30-year life span.
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Mr Stokes did not initially respond to The Daily Telegraph’s offer to cover his $364 Pelican Airlines return flight to meet the people left devastated by the decision to block the mine.
But last night his office said he was planning a trip of his own to the area.
“Minister Stokes knows Bylong well. He has visited the area on multiple occasions, met with Kepco on site and attended a public meeting to hear the views of local residents first hand. He also has another trip to the region planned.”
Mr Strokes enraged local families in the state’s central west last week by saying the IPC “decision now provides some finality” for effectively sounding the death knell to their communities.
Rylstone mother of three Sheridan Byrne said: “I would love to have the Minister come here so that I can tell him how badly we need this mine to keep people in the town. The school numbers are already down.
“The town has been waiting for this mine to happen. People are already leaving because of the drought. We need the mine to bring more people into the town,” she said.
The locals were even less impressed to learn that Mr Stokes was being given top billing for the October 31 climate emergency event with its key message that “I, human want to take control of the driverless train.”
Kandos mine worker and butcher Robert Cooper spoke for his entire devastated community when he said: “The only driverless train I can see is the NSW planning system.
“This mine would have brought people and jobs to the area,” said Mr Cooper, who works weekend shifts at the Airly colliery near Lithgow to make ends meet.
“I would urge the minister to just have a rethink about this. Without it the town will slowly die. To me that is not good planning policy.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Stokes said the “climate emergency” event had changed from the one he signed up to speak at. “Minister Stokes has not agreed to speak at any event regarding ‘climate emergency’,” she said.
But a simple Google search of Fifth Estate organiser Tina Perinotto would have shown her activist credentials including tweets calling pro-coal voters “deluded”.
In another tweet Ms Perinotto said she was trying not to take pleasure at the plight of drought stricken farmers because they had voted for non-Green parties.
The statements spruiking the event featuring Mr Stokes include: “I want my buildings to protect me, to listen and learn from me with respect and absolute privacy. I expect governments everywhere to understand this and write the road rules, before the cowboys run loose.”
NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee was scathing, saying: “The Planning Minister's priorities are completely out of touch.
“He has spent too long enjoying the sea breezes and comfort of his affluent northern beaches electorate and not enough time in the rest of NSW where people are doing it tough and jobs are at a premium.
“While unemployment in the Planning Minister's Sydney northern beaches electorate is around two per cent, unemployment in towns like Kandos and Rylstone are over ten per cent,” he said.
“It seems the Minister's vision for NSW is for lots of parks and open spaces where those made unemployed due to his failed planning system can gather in quiet contemplation and reflect on their lost opportunities.”
Shooters and Fishers leader Robert Borsak yesterday said the decision to axe the mine showed “the Government has lost control of the planning system and has abandoned rural and regional development and the Planning Minister had sold out.
“The fact that Minister Stokes has agreed to appear at that event just shows he has sold out to the greenies — it’s sad but this coalition government is just a bunch of lefties.”