LNP leader ready to stop the march of the miners

QUEENSLAND'S opposition Liberal National Party has ruled out further coalmine development in two hot spots of the land access row

QUEENSLAND'S opposition Liberal National Party has ruled out further coalmine development in two hot spots of the land access row between miners and farmers, with aspiring premier Campbell Newman saying food and water security is vital to the national interest.

But Mr Newman stopped short of backing Tony Abbott's call for farmers to have the right to "say no" to their land being accessed for mineral exploration, underlining the issue's sensitivity for the conservative parties.

Independent MP Bob Katter, who opposes the mining of prime agriculture land, claimed yesterday his start-up Australian Party would win the state seat of former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen on the back of the anger in rural communities at mining encroachment.

The Bjelke-Petersen family's property of Bethany, near Kingaroy, is covered by a bauxite mining exploration lease, The Australian has confirmed.

Protests against expanded coalmining and coal-seam gas production have erupted on the Liverpool Plains of northwestern NSW and in the Hunter Valley, and are set to spread to the northern outskirts of Melbourne, where locals in the town of Bacchus Marsh are opposing impending test drilling for brown coal.

Mr Newman has said he opposes open-cut and, in some circumstances underground, coalmining on prime land on the Darling Downs west of Brisbane and in the "golden triangle" of grain growing in central Queensland. At the weekend he insisted an LNP government would have stopped a massive expansion of the New Hope open-cut mine, set to engulf the town of Acland near Toowoomba, and an underground operation proposed by Bandanna Energy on supposedly protected cropping land near Springsure in the state's central west.

If successful at the state election, due by next March, the LNP would "not allow . . . new projects to go forward in that prime cropping land", Mr Newman said.

He also questioned whether the gas-rich floodplains of the Condamine River in southern Queensland were suitable for development.

"We will only allow coal-seam gas to go forward where it clearly doesn't affect the water resources under the ground that are so vital for future generations," he said.

Mr Newman accused the Queensland Labor government of allowing coal-seam gas projects to grow at breakneck speed to prop up its budget. But he ruled out overriding approved gas projects, saying this would expose the state to massive legal damages.

Mr Newman said the LNP would give farmers more rights when dealing with gas companies.

"We will put in place a land and water commission and give people legal rights so there is fairness and equity when dealing with gas companies," he said.

Mr Katter, however, questioned whether the LNP would deliver for farmers when it was so "heavily backed" by mining interests, including key donor Clive Palmer, who owns leases over promising coal reserves in central Queensland.

Mr Katter said he was confident his party had the candidates to capitalise on the mining and coal-seam backlash in regional Queensland, including Bjelke-Petersen's former seat of Nanango, held by one-time One Nation MP turned independent Dorothy Pratt. She is retiring at the state election.

Bjelke-Petersen's son, John, confirmed the eastern side of the family's Bethany property, including its bed-and-breakfast cottages, was covered by a Queensland Bauxite exploration lease.

The resources company increased its exploration area by a third this year to cover 1714sq km of new leases across the Kingaroy and Childers regions.

It has already conducted its first phase of drilling, 123 holes across a 400sq km area, and more is planned from next month.