T HE ROUND- UP

CONNECTING everyday rural people with the rest of the world is at the heart of a concept being launched nationally by the Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Women’s Network.

The Humans of the Bush project is based on the highly successful Humans of New York Facebook page, which uses images and short sentences to tell the story.

QRRRWN spokeswoman Corinne Butler said embracing a rural version of the concept was all about connecting people. Photographers from across the country are invited to share their images with the Humans of the Bush Facebook page.

Send photos and comments to Humans of the bush@qrrrwn.org.au.

This week Tony from Royal Private Hotel in Charters Towers offers this advice: Take care of your mum and take the time to stop and listen to people. ROSS Stockham, the KAP candidate for the seat of Gregory, was outraged by the new mining application legislation sped through Parliament last month:

“With these new changes put in place by the current LNP government the average Queensland property owner can expect to see small scale mines encroach on more than the borders of their communities but onto their rights as individuals. Leaving those on connected properties alone with the ability to argue against the developments.

However the concern goes beyond that of landowners. Environmental groups, communities and concerned individuals within the area have been left without a channel to debate 90% of all mining applications. Even local councils have been gagged and are only able to refuse these small scale mines when council property or infrastructure is connected to the area.

I am in no way against the continuation of business in this state nor minimising bureaucracy however for the incumbents to view the legal process as a waste of time is something we should be concerned about.

Why sneak the amendments through in the late hours of the night if they really had our best interests at heart? Why not debate the changes openly? Why not listen to the people you are supposed to represent?

Why? because the LNP government had already dismissed the voices.

I’m appalled and ashamed to see the future we will face under this government.” A QUESTION from Central Queensland cattleman Phil Dowe:

“I have been a user of NLIS management tags. All of a sudden they are banned by MLA. I have had conversations and emails with various people about the ban. None of the answers were the same. One of the reasons given to me was that there were not enough producers using them. Hello, when they are banned and no one uses them. Just because not many producers use a particular product, is no reason to ban it. I would urge any livestock producer, whether they use this sort of tag or not, to lobby producer organisations, and push to have the ban on these tags lifted. The simple fact that they were quite okay for producers to use and I know of no complaint about them. Have you had the same experience? I’d be interested to hear from you. Phil Dowe, Dingo, 0418 658 597.”