By Jeremy Sollars
A last-ditch effort by three Southern Downs councillors to overturn a decision to approve an explosives disposal operation at Karara west of Warwick last week was to no avail, the Free Times can reveal.
As reported last week, a majority of councillors at their general meeting in Stanthorpe last Wednesday approved a plan by Ipswich-based firm Extech to establish the operation on the Karara property ‘Waraghai’ owned by Donald and Angela McLeish.
The proposal is to establish a site to be used for the disposal of explosives, predominantly from the mining industry with blasting carried out six days a month with a maximum of four blasts a day, with a maximum of 1000 kilograms of explosive to be held on site at any given time.
The principal opponents of the plan are Belinda Marriage and partner Tim Rudduck, whose neighbouring property ‘Tillari’ is their home and business Tillari Trotters specialises in free range pork and lamb and other agricultural products.
The couple had also been planning a farm-stay for autistic children which is now unlikely to proceed.
Late last Friday, Councillor Yve Stocks – who voted against the Extech approval – lodged a ‘recission motion’ in an attempt to have the approval overturned.
The motion was also signed by dissenting councillors Vic Pennisi and Marika McNicol, but the last-minute move was unsuccessful as the council had already notified Extech of the approval, which under the Local Government Act of Queensland meant the approval could not be overturned.
Mayor Tracy Dobie last Wednesday used her casting vote in favour of the Extech application after a deadlock of councillors.
Cr Cameron Gow was absent from the meeting with councillors Sheryl Windle, Yve Stocks, Vic Pennisi and Marika McNichol voting against the application and councillors Neil Meiklejohn, Rod Kelly and deputy mayor Jo McNally in favour.
A council spokeswoman confirmed the recission motion had been lodged last Friday by Cr Stocks but also that Extech had been notified of the approval “in writing” following the council vote.
At our request, the council provided the Free Times with a copy of the approval letter to Extech, which is dated last Wednesday 26 July, the day of the council meeting.
An Extech spokesman told the Free Times this week the company had received email advice of the approval prior to the filing of Cr Stocks’ rescission motion and hard copy documentation had arrived by mail on Tuesday.
Ms Marriage and Mr Rudduck did not lodge a formal objection to the Extech application – which was advertised in the Toowoomba Chronicle – but are adamant that blasting and associated impacts will have a detrimental impact on their farming operations, including stress caused to livestock by blasting.
They claim that mapping and GPS co-ordinates in the application are at odds in showing the exact location of the proposed blasting site and that the council’s proposed approval conditions only provide for a one hundred metre buffer zone from any boundary of the ‘Waraghai’ property.
They also claim blasting could affect native animal species in the area and that Extech did not carry out an indigenous cultural assessment of the property.
Young farming couple devastated:
Ms Marriage was granted a five-minute address to the councillors at last week’s meeting, but it was to no avail.
She has described the council decision as “a vote against farming and against tourism” and the couple are now fearful for the future of their farming operation.
Along with her husband Tim she has been building up Tillari Trotters as a viable agri-business, and this week said she was still in disbelief at the Extech approval.
“Councillors are supposed to vote in the best interests of the community – how is this in anyone’s interests?,” she said this week.
“We’re just at a loss, but we’re just going to keep fighting.
“And not just for us, it’s for future generations.
“There were test blasts done just two kilometres from our house.
“I’m also concerned about water and rainwater contamination – and we and the councillors still don’t know exactly what materials will be exploded.”
The couple have also made it clear they are not against the Extech operation in principle, but have grave concerns about the proximity of blasting to their livestock and home and the volumes of explosives involved at any given time.
In a statement, Extech said the company wished “to thank SDRC for their foresight in approving the application, in particular the work of the council officers involved in the process with Extech is to be commended”.
“They conducted their duties in a most diligent and professional manner, totally impartially and thoroughly to ensure that the councillors had all the facts before them on which to make an informed decision,” the statement said.
* A petition asking for the approval to be overturned can be found at change.org and by searching ‘Karara’.
