Interesting speech by Robert Brown of the Shooters and Fishers Party in the Legislative Council back in November. Sorry if has been posted before.
Anyway, It's refreshing to see a politician who appears to have a grasp of our interests.
Source: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20121115040
FOSSICKING AND PROSPECTING
Page: 16932
The Hon. ROBERT BROWN [3.53 p.m.]: Today I wish to inform the House about fossicking. A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to speak at the 2012 Goanna Outdoor Muster. The muster was held at Mookerawajust past Stuart Townwhich I now understand to have been the original town of Ironbark and from which The Man from Ironbark came. It was a delightful weekend and I was pleased to meet dozens of fossickers. Like shooters and fishers, the fossickers came from all walks of life. Indeed, there were more than 200 people at the annual event. I take this opportunity to thank Gary Frame and his team for his invitation and for helping to organise this splendid event.
Thousands of fossickers are spread across this State and they areto me at leasta forgotten group. This is despite the fact that they invest a lot of time and money in their hobby and travel extensively not just around the State but also interstateand that is part of the problem. It seems that in New South Wales we go out of our way to make it hard to be a fossicker. We have restrictions on where one can fossick and how one can fossick, and by imposing any number of licence requirements simply to allow one to fossick in the first place. That is why many of our fossickers cross the borders into Queensland and Victoria, and they even drive to Western Australia to spend their money. They do so because those States do not impose so many restrictions and licence requirements; they actually encourage these domestic tourists.
Most of the people I met at Mookerawa were gold prospectors. They were searching with metal detectors, using sluices and panning. Many were also targeting gemstones such as sapphires, zircons and spinal, which often occur within gold-bearing gravels. I am also told that for most of them money is not the aim of their fossicking and prospectingvery few make a living from it. They are happy simply to cover their costs and to enjoy the Australian outdoors. Again, that sounds very much like shooters and fishers, and their concerns are similar. They are worried about access to public land in New South Wales for fossicking and prospecting, especially where that land has had previous mining operationswhat one might describe as degraded land.
Many areas of State forest have been converted to national parks, commons have been closed or leased, and the 60 or so dedicated State fossicking areas have been abolished. But it is the same old story. Many important gold fossicking areas have miraculously now turned into pristine national parks and nature reserves under the National Parks and Wildlife Act which, funnily enough, forbids fossicking in these categories of reserve where in some cases mining has been carried on for 100 years. I will be approaching the Government to see what it can or will do about fossicking and giving fossickers access in particular to national parks. The fossickers feel they have been losing access because they have no effective representation of their needs, they have not been consulted and the interests of Green groups and big business have held sway. That may indeed be the case. They are not the first small group to suffer at the hands of the greedy Greens.
I am told that fossicking is not included in any plans of management for national parks or other reserves, including those previously degraded mining areas that are now pristine national parks. One could ask why not, particularly when one looks at the flowery words in the Office of Environment and Heritage Interim Corporate Plan for 2012-2013. That plan commits the department to protect our natural environment, increase opportunities for people to look after their own neighbourhoods and environments, make it easier for people to be involved in their communities, and enhance cultural, creative, sporting and recreational opportunities, amongst other things. At the very least, one would not think it would be a big ask to allow prospecting in areas of national parks where mining was traditionally carried out.
I also support the suggestion from the fossickers that bush camping should be permitted in most areas, along with four-wheel drive access, for ease of their use of national parks. Fossicking and recreational prospecting should be classed as a low environmental impactlike huntingwhich should be considered separately to the interests of the broader mining industry. A suggestion that came out of my visit was that some type of ministerial advisory committee be set up to advance the interests of the hobby fossickers of this State who spend millions of dollars each year in domestic tourism. I will seek discussions with the relevant Minister. I am hopeful that the appeals of fossickers and prospectors will be heard.
Anyway, It's refreshing to see a politician who appears to have a grasp of our interests.
Source: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20121115040
FOSSICKING AND PROSPECTING
Page: 16932
The Hon. ROBERT BROWN [3.53 p.m.]: Today I wish to inform the House about fossicking. A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to speak at the 2012 Goanna Outdoor Muster. The muster was held at Mookerawajust past Stuart Townwhich I now understand to have been the original town of Ironbark and from which The Man from Ironbark came. It was a delightful weekend and I was pleased to meet dozens of fossickers. Like shooters and fishers, the fossickers came from all walks of life. Indeed, there were more than 200 people at the annual event. I take this opportunity to thank Gary Frame and his team for his invitation and for helping to organise this splendid event.
Thousands of fossickers are spread across this State and they areto me at leasta forgotten group. This is despite the fact that they invest a lot of time and money in their hobby and travel extensively not just around the State but also interstateand that is part of the problem. It seems that in New South Wales we go out of our way to make it hard to be a fossicker. We have restrictions on where one can fossick and how one can fossick, and by imposing any number of licence requirements simply to allow one to fossick in the first place. That is why many of our fossickers cross the borders into Queensland and Victoria, and they even drive to Western Australia to spend their money. They do so because those States do not impose so many restrictions and licence requirements; they actually encourage these domestic tourists.
Most of the people I met at Mookerawa were gold prospectors. They were searching with metal detectors, using sluices and panning. Many were also targeting gemstones such as sapphires, zircons and spinal, which often occur within gold-bearing gravels. I am also told that for most of them money is not the aim of their fossicking and prospectingvery few make a living from it. They are happy simply to cover their costs and to enjoy the Australian outdoors. Again, that sounds very much like shooters and fishers, and their concerns are similar. They are worried about access to public land in New South Wales for fossicking and prospecting, especially where that land has had previous mining operationswhat one might describe as degraded land.
Many areas of State forest have been converted to national parks, commons have been closed or leased, and the 60 or so dedicated State fossicking areas have been abolished. But it is the same old story. Many important gold fossicking areas have miraculously now turned into pristine national parks and nature reserves under the National Parks and Wildlife Act which, funnily enough, forbids fossicking in these categories of reserve where in some cases mining has been carried on for 100 years. I will be approaching the Government to see what it can or will do about fossicking and giving fossickers access in particular to national parks. The fossickers feel they have been losing access because they have no effective representation of their needs, they have not been consulted and the interests of Green groups and big business have held sway. That may indeed be the case. They are not the first small group to suffer at the hands of the greedy Greens.
I am told that fossicking is not included in any plans of management for national parks or other reserves, including those previously degraded mining areas that are now pristine national parks. One could ask why not, particularly when one looks at the flowery words in the Office of Environment and Heritage Interim Corporate Plan for 2012-2013. That plan commits the department to protect our natural environment, increase opportunities for people to look after their own neighbourhoods and environments, make it easier for people to be involved in their communities, and enhance cultural, creative, sporting and recreational opportunities, amongst other things. At the very least, one would not think it would be a big ask to allow prospecting in areas of national parks where mining was traditionally carried out.
I also support the suggestion from the fossickers that bush camping should be permitted in most areas, along with four-wheel drive access, for ease of their use of national parks. Fossicking and recreational prospecting should be classed as a low environmental impactlike huntingwhich should be considered separately to the interests of the broader mining industry. A suggestion that came out of my visit was that some type of ministerial advisory committee be set up to advance the interests of the hobby fossickers of this State who spend millions of dollars each year in domestic tourism. I will seek discussions with the relevant Minister. I am hopeful that the appeals of fossickers and prospectors will be heard.
