Why the coal rush can't be ignored

THE buy-up of some of Australia's most productive farmland by Chinese interests to mine for coal provides another window into an ever-growing chasm between rural and urban Australia.

The fact that it is Chinese interests involved on the Liverpool Plains is irrelevant. The issue is not about nationality; it is about whether enough is being done to safeguard rural communities and the nation's long-term interest.

It is obvious that the rampaging minerals boom is generating enormous wealth that is not being shared evenly. This is not an argument to stop. But quarantining fertile ground from exploration is more than a purely sentimental argument.

Farmers are right to ask whether 50 years of mining royalties can properly compensate for the potential loss of a thousand years of productive agriculture. Landholders are entitled to legal protections to stand their ground when big coal or big gas comes knocking.

On the land, many people are saying cash-hungry governments have lost touch with the people they are supposed to represent.

It is reasonable to ask, when exploration leases were first created, whether it was even possible to imagine the extent to which mining would impact on settled areas. This is particularly so with coal-seam methane, where the entire landscape is tapped for gas, producing millions of litres of super-saline water as a by-product.

The fact that Australia's peak mining body is considering a publicity campaign to put its case illustrates the depth of feeling against the rush.

The mining industry knows the challenge it faces could grow exponentially. This is an issue that state and federal governments ignore at their peril.