Hello from the Adelaide Hills.
Just to pass on some information from a series of random people I met yesterday, all of them related to mining policy in SA.
First the Liberal candidate for Heysen knocked on my door asking for my support in the upcoming elections. He wondered if there were any particular issues that I'd like to see addressed. I talked to him about the over-restrictive control of state/Crown land for prospecting and fossicking purposes in the Adelaide Hills. It may have just been political spiel, but he assured me that this is an area (the progressive opening up of more state land for recreational purposes) that he is actively pursuing. He took my contact details and promised to keep me updated. I'll post if I hear anything.
Then I happened to get the manager of the Labour party's election campaign in my car (I drive part-time), and immediately afterwards the legal manager of the South Australian mining department in my car, so I got the chance to have lengthy discussions with both of them.
The legal manager was very helpful. According to him, the 1971 Mining Act does not prevent prospecting or fossicking on any Crown/state land; in fact everyone has the right to do so. The real obstacle is the Environment Protection Act; the minister of that department has the power to restrict access to their land even though we would legally be allowed to prospect on the land if we could gain access to it. The Environment Act usurps the Mining Act in this instance, mostly for reasons of duty of care.
He (and, in his opinion, everyone else in the mining department) was in full support of allowing prospecting on land that is currently locked up. His advice was that we write to the Minister for the Environment, after the state elections, and put forward our reasons why access to the land should be granted. He also thought that it would be helpful to write to the minister for heritage zoning; the benefits of finding relics that could be displayed in local historical museums would be one good justification for searching in these areas.
He put forth the idea of introducing a licensing scheme like that of Victoria, whereby we indemnify the department for the environment for any injuries that we may sustain while prospecting, and may include an agreement that the prospecting licence allows the transfer of ownership of any finds from the Crown to the individual.
A group letter from a proper association (i.e. official metal detecting club) would be most effective method, especially immediately after the elections when the politicians are looking to make their mark and introduce popular reforms. I said that the letter might be signed by only 100 people but he thought that 100 people would be more than enough to get things happening.
shmiff
