Petition to stop the proposed ban on sluicing in Victoria

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HeadsUp said:
johnb said:
I have signed the petition as well as members of my family and friends. However to get the numbers up I suggest we need the support of other organisations or groups eg, Bush users group, 4wd clubs, Sporting shooters association etc. This issue is far bigger than just mining and prospecting. This is an attack on our Democratic Rights ! AFTER ALL, WHO KNOWS WHOSE NEXT IN THE FIRING LINE ?

what next ?

they would ban 4WD from entering bushland or fire trails

ban campfires "because they contribute to global warming"

ban bushwalking "because microrganisms will get crushed by the feet of people walking up pathways"

i dont know which is more lethal , giving loaded guns to children or power to politicians ?

They have already done that in SA at one of the more productive fossicking areas, used to be be a free reign over the whole area to prospect, now many gates, including some of the main highway access gates are permanently closed and padlocked, effectively limiting fossickers to a few areas (unless you are willing to walk kms to get to other areas). They ended up closing off access due to trail bikes and 4WD's making a mess of the tracks, without much consideration for other users.

It's a classic culture of lock it up and throw away the key, the easier option over properly managing what is effectively a public area, funded by us, the taxpayer.
 
A quick update.

The petition now has 890 signatures but we need a lot more to meet our goal.

As previously mentioned I've been spending a little of my own money promoting the petition on Facebook (via a boosted post), this seems to be performing quite well but is obviously limited by funds. So far I have received two member donations to help fund the campaign which is really great, but If anyone else would like to help speed up the process by chipping in a small donation, you can do so via the Donate link. Alternatively, if anyone wanted to copy the official post from our Facebook page and pay to promote it via their own Facebook, that would be equally as beneficial to the cause.

If everyone could please keep on sharing and spreading the word about the petition it will ensure we meet our goal within reasonable time, sitting back on this could be detrimental to our hobby, so lets try and protect it why we still can.

Keep up the fantastic work.

Cheers,
Nugget
 
Nugget said:
A quick update.

The petition now has 890 signatures but we need a lot more to meet our goal.

As previously mentioned I've been spending a little of my own money promoting the petition on Facebook (via a boosted post), this seems to be performing quite well but is obviously limited by funds. So far I have received two member donations to help fund the campaign which is really great, but If anyone else would like to help speed up the process by chipping in a small donation, you can do so via the Donate link. Alternatively, if anyone wanted to copy the official post from our Facebook page and pay to promote it via their own Facebook, that would be equally as beneficial to the cause.

If everyone could please keep on sharing and spreading the word about the petition it will ensure we meet our goal within reasonable time, sitting back on this could be detrimental to our hobby, so lets try and protect it why we still can.

Keep up the fantastic work.

Cheers,
Nugget

I sent through a donation Matt

If this ban on sluices gets through and kills my hobby I will be one very angry elephant

:rolleyes:
 
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Given they are claiming that flood damage in certain areas was caused by recreational prospectors I suppose the Greens would see this photo as clear and irrefutable evidence of damage done to the shoreline of Australia caused by recreational prospectors and their sluices....lol :D
 
have not signed yet..I am still weighing up the environmental considerations.... which is the main objective...Right?
 
Mr Boring said:
have not signed yet..I am still weighing up the environmental considerations.... which is the main objective...Right?

Hi mister B

What kind of prospecting do you do ?

I think all of us enjoy the beauty of the bush and the native animals in it , that's half the reason behind the hobby for me

I am unclear on what the real motivation is behind the push for this ban on sluices

If the greens had valid reasons they wouldn't have to tell lies on TV and other media , if they had valid reasons the facts would speak for themselves.

The fact that lies or misrepresentations have been made on TV claiming we use "high powered water hoses to blast away the river banks". and that photos of natural erosion that's occurred over thousands of years is being touted as "damage caused by prospectors" should be a clear indicator that their intentions and beliefs are misguided.

If I thought there was environmental concerns I wouldn't be in the hobby , sadly there are people in power who want to abuse their priveledges and use it for some kind of point scoring or power trip

Fingers crossed that sensibilities prevail
 
Signed the petition (a few days ago) & have sent this off as well:

The Hon. Ryan Smith MP
The Hon. Louise Asher MP
Mr Greg Barber MLC

I am writing to express my concern & dismay at recent media reports initiated by the Greens.
In an interview aired on Prime 7 http://au.prime7.yahoo.com/v1/video/-/watch/24143854/prospector-angry-over-sluicing-ban/, Australian Greens Lead Candidate for Northern Victoria (Jenny O'Connor) described the act of sluicing as using high powered water pressure to erode away river banks to look for gold.
This description sounds like hydraulic sluicing, see Figure 1, a destructive form of sluicing that was used historically in Australia but is still allowed in some countries. It has been banned in Australia for 100 or so years!

Figure 1: A miner using a hydraulic jet to mine for gold in California, from The Century Magazine January 1883.

Modern day sluicing by modern day fossickers/prospectors is the use of a small, portable box (for want of a better description) that contains riffles and/or matting that allows gold & other heavy minerals to settle & remain in the sluice (see Figure 2). These devices are usually set up within a running water course & hand fed with material collected using hand tools such as picks or shovels.

There are also other forms of sluices referred to as highbankers. These operate on the same principle but a small water pump is used to initiate the flow of water through the sluice to allow washing of the material in areas that may not have running water. Highbankers are usually set up on the bank of the water course so as to allow the water to filter through natural gravel/wash to reduce turbidity in the water course. They can also be set up away from water courses with the use of recirculation tubs as per Figure 3.

Figure 2: Modern day sluice in use.

Figure 3: Highbanker with recirculation tub

Neither of these two methods involves eroding away river banks to look for gold. In the scheme of things both have no or very little detrimental impact on the environment. When compared to the damage of natural flood events the impact of fossicking is that minimal you would not even be able to scale it against flooding.
To sensationalise what is a healthy & often family orientated pastime is nothing short of negligent. Jenny O'Connor obviously doesnt give a hoot about fossicking/prospecting shown by a complete lack of understanding of the method/s employed in modern times. It also showed a complete lack of understanding of the current legislation regulating the hobby in all Australian states as using high pressure water to erode banks has long been outlawed. There are specific rules & regulations for each state that must be adhered to & in my experience travelling into Victoria & throughout NSW these rules & regulations are followed closely by the majority of responsible fossickers.

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said the process could be very damaging to river banks and could cause untold damage to archaeological, Aboriginal and historical remains.
''We're talking about large amounts of material being moved around to find a small amount of gold in parks that have been created to protect environmental and historical values.
''These bans are not going to stop you looking for gold with a shovel,'' he said.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/prospects-dim-for-fossickers-20140601-39cm5.html#ixzz342ythya9
This is another comment that seems to have no basis. Under current Australian legislation there is no other lawful means of excavating material for fossicking other than with hand tools such as shovels. It appears Greg wants to legislate something that is already in place? There are no large amounts of material being moved to do that would require the use of machinery such as backhoes, loaders or dozers & the use of these is already legislated out for fossicking purposes.
Rather than wanting to damage environments most fossickers/prospectors I have encountered are very wary of it & protect the environments they partake in their pastime at. Rubbish is habitually removed that is left by other less careful groups of bush users. Contaminants, such as lead, are also removed in the course of these activities. To say we are damaging the environment is untrue.
Tourism & particularly small historic gold mining communities could be affected by any bans also. There are a lot of small communities that rely on the gold fossickers tourism dollar to survive. I myself have recently travelled through Victoria to carry out gold detecting around the small communities of St Arnaud, Dunolly & Moliagul staying at the St Arnaud caravan park. Countless other people travel from interstate to participate in fossicking bringing tourism dollars into your state. Any bans would only be detrimental to this industry.
Any political party that suggests that the hobby of fossicking/prospecting is damaging to the environment will lose mine & countless other votes. I have previously voted for the Greens as I believe that there does need to be balance & protection of certain areas but any attempt to or shutdown of areas on the back of sensationalist views & incorrect information would be unjust & frankly Un-Australian.
Personally I prefer gold detecting but I am concerned if the banning of sluicing passes that metal detecting will be next on the Greens agenda. I am also concerned any bans in Victoria may have a bearing on other states with the Greens then pushing for similar throughout Australia.
I have my Victorian Miners Right & that should be upheld.
I ask that any proposed bill on the legislative agenda be considered carefully & with all facts before being made law.
 
Well said mbasko an excellent response to the ludicrous claims being made by certain politicians to sensationalise an issue for political gain at the expense of those least able to defend against them. i.e. the easy targets.
 
Perfect mbasko

Can you also print it off on good quality parchment paper and post it to him as registered mail please

Just in case he has a secretary sitting there deleting all our submissions as being " junk emails"

Using parchment paper makes it stand out as soon as they open it , it's more likely to stand out and they might read it once or twice before maybe / maybe not throwing it in the bin

Try to get parchment made from recycled high grain paper with a very heavy weight that they can't easily crunch up in a ball and throw at the bin , and if you can find it , try to get off yellow parchment of a similar colour to what you see in old antique documents in museums as it might create a subconscious respect for the document when they read it

Let me know if you get a written reply
 
Mr Boring said:
have not signed yet..I am still weighing up the environmental considerations.... which is the main objective...Right?

Leave it to us mate, we'll save your hobby for you :rolleyes:
 
that sort of thing is like a negro posting on a klu klux clan website. not very popular.. I will bet that we have some spies from the greens among our members watching our posts... :(
Mr Boring said:
have not signed yet..I am still weighing up the environmental considerations.... which is the main objective...Right?
 
Mr Boring said:
have not signed yet..I am still weighing up the environmental considerations.... which is the main objective...Right?
Howdy Mr Boring, as a member of this forum and a fellow prospector your opinions, and vote are important to us in our fight against the greens to stop the proposed ban on sluicing in creeks, rivers and streams, so I would like to try and sway you to our side if I could.
The greens are using misleading, outdated information, to try to sway political favour, the VEAC report stated that there COULD BE a possibility of small micro organism damage through the act of digging in a creek bed, BUT NO EVIDENCE COULD SUBSTANTIATED.
They then turned their attention to educator dredging, which we all know has been banned for many years, EVEN THEN they still had no factual evidence to suggest that this also had an effect on aquatic life, the GREENS have blown this way out of proportion calling for a ban on sluicing claiming prospectors have and are destroying the ecological system of our waterways, and are going as far to post pictures and news stories to the extent where they are using terms like HIGH PRESSURE WATER BLASTING OUT RIVER BANKS, which we all know to be false public misleading LIES.
All this information is available in this section of the forum I ask you to take a moment and read through that section and then make your choice wether to vote YEAH or NAY.
Which ever way you decide to vote, i am sure your opinions will be respected. ;)
 
To be honest, this all could be just a storm in a tea cup...They want to legislate to ban something that is already banned from what I can gather...That is not to say that we shouldn't be endeavouring to enlighten them on their misconceptions in order to get them to concentrate their efforts in Government on issues that really will make a difference, rather than wasting our tax dollars on non-issues such as this.
 

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