AgForce gets thousands of dollars from the C and N Graziers Trust for GAB fight

C & N Trust account trustee Don Heatley said $60,000 had been given to AgForce for its legal case on the GAB.

In a legal case that could cost the Queensland lobby group millions of dollars, AgForce is challenging a decision handed down on February 9, 2022, under the EPBC Act which it says "was flawed" because the National Environmental Significance provisions of the act were "not adequately considered" in the instance of Glencore and the GAB.

Currently, AgForce has only about $350,000 in donations, but its board has agreed to underwrite all outstanding legal bills for the case.

Mining giant Glencore, through its subsidiary CTSCo, proposes to inject liquified CO2 waste from the Millmerran power station into the GAB at a site near Moonie.

The proposal has galvanised communities, farm and conservation groups, businesses and individuals across Queensland to come together to oppose it because of concerns it puts the GAB at risk of irreparable damage.

Mr Heatley said the major reason why the trustees decided to give $60,000 to AgForce was because the Great Artesian Basin in the main sat under Queensland and would affect an enormous number of AgForce members.

"Obviously many of them are in the old C & N area, but generally speaking if you take a wider view any affect on a natural resource as great as the Great Artesian Basin would be just devastating if this liquid carbon dioxide was pumped in there by Glencore," he said.

"Our view was that the trust is there to support, not just the northern members of AgForce...but industry generally and this was a situation that clearly deserved support."

It's understood a decision on Glencore's EIS will be handed down in early May and many of those who have been at the coalface of lobbying the state government are hopeful it will be rejected.

If that is the case, then the QFF and others plan to continue to lobby the government until its legislates to protect the Queensland section of the GAB against any future carbon capture and storage projects.

In a written statement to Queensland Country Life on Tuesday, April 16, National Farmers Federation CEO Tony Mahar said the Australian Farmers Fighting Fund was very supportive of the strong collaboration across a range of organisations to prevent damage to the GAB including AgForce.

"However, after considering the advice received, the AFFF does not believe legal proceedings are the preferred course of action at this stage," he said. "As such, it has declined to act as an underwriter for the legal/court action already commenced."

Mr Mahar said the NFF board, however, strongly supported the industry wide approach and had committed an undisclosed amount of funding to AgForce's court case because it was not just a Queensland issue.

Mr Guerin said he was disappointed AgForce's request for funds had been declined, and very surprised its application did not meet the fund's criteria as it was a very strong case and critical it was dealt with at the federal level.

Regardless of the outcome of the EIS though, Mr Guerin said AgForce would continue to the full hearing on August 1 and 2 to seek the court's support to have a judicial review of the February 9, 2022, decision.

He said they would also continue with the court case even if state legislation was introduced to protect the Queensland part of the GAB.

"The Great Artesian Basin does not stop at the state border, it doesn't respect lines that people have put on the map in the last couple of hundred years," he said.

Mr Guerin, who has previously pledged AgForce's entire balance sheet towards underwriting the court case, agreed the NFF should be taking on a national issue such as this court case instead of a state-based organisation like AgForce.

But he said AgForce members had been resolute in saying "we cannot leave any stone unturned" in a conversation that would be remembered for many generations to come, whatever the outcome, and that the issue could only be resolved at a federal level.

"No state government has jurisdiction over the Great Artesian Basin, the federal government does...this cannot be solved by state legislation," he said.

"This is one of those moments when an organisation like ours doesn't build assets for the sake of building a balance sheet, we build assets to put them to work when the moment arrives and this is one of those moments."

Mr Heatley said, without knowing all the details of the court case, he did not know why AgForce would pursue the court case if legislation was introduced to protect "what we are all trying to protect".

"I would think if the Great Artesian Basin is protected under legislation in Queensland, without knowing the details for preparation for a court case, my view would be 'why pursue something that's going to be protected by legislation, why take it to a higher court'," he said.

Mr Heatley said it would certainly be useful if other state farm lobby groups donated money towards AgForce's legal bills.

"If you're going to protect an asset (like the GAB), it's almost the eighth wonder of the world, then everybody who sits above the Great Artesian Basin or who utilises it in some form or another should kick the can help finalise the fact that it should stay protected forever," he said.

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said NSW Farmers was deeply concerned about any project that would jeopardise groundwater and threaten future agricultural productivity.

"If the Great Artesian Basin was to be polluted or damaged, it would have a terrible impact on farmers that would go beyond state borders," he said.

A former MLA chair, Mr Heatley is one of three trustees for the trust account that was retained by the C & N when the United Graziers Association, the Cattlemen's Union and the Queensland Graingrowers Association merged to form AgForce in 1999.