Since Olympic Dam was discovered 30 years ago you'd think the sparse indigenous population would have most issues worked out by now. Unlike Ranger NT there are no rivers to remove large amounts of contaminants. The mine cannot expand until it gets a major new power supply and water pumped 300km from a desalination plant on the coast. Outgoing SA Premier has failed to make any progress on either of those fronts. Therefore for the foreseeable future any spillages will continue to be minor and absorbed by the surrounding desert.

Come on, it has to be a joke.

Those names have to be pseudonyms. Green & Mudd writing a greenie rant, it must be.

Hang on, could it be mother nature's way of playing a joke on the greenies?

Priceless.

Perfect example of reverse thinking of the greenies.

All laws are intrusions on peoples’ rights, and the beneficiaries of the laws have privileges which enable them to so intrude.

The Olympic Dam mine is an important project, and it is vital that the privileges of those in a position to obstruct the progress of this project be modified to the extent necessary for the project to proceed untrammelled, so far as possible.

The privileges of those in a position to interfere have not been taken away, but left in a form which it is hoped will be workable without being obstructive.

If greenie nonsense is allowed to obstruct this project as has happened so often in the past to important projects, then we are stuck in a situation from which we should have extricated ourselves when it first became obvious that political obstruction of constructive progress has no beneficial effect on the environment, and a detrimental effect on the community.

As to Aboriginal Heritage, it was South Australia that experienced the Hindmarsh debacle, and it is encouraging to see that they have learnt from it.

Nothing mentioned by the authors is directed at granting privileges to BHP, it is directed to minimizing interference by minorities with an important industry, by attempting to make their privileges manageable.

Green and Mudd would like to see Roxby Downs closed down because it mines that "nasty" element called uranium. Fortunately, the legislation has been well framed to keep these zealots and there kin out of it.

David