A FORMER Liberal MP has labelled Member for MacKillop Nick McBride as “destructive” and a “bloody fool” for crossing the floor on debate over the party’s mining bill.
In remarkable scenes in parliament on Tuesday night, Mr McBride defected to the crossbench to vote with the State Opposition in a bid to delay a final vote on the Liberals’ mining act until next year.
Farmers packed out the state’s Lower House to witness a bloc of first-term MPs, including former State Liberal leader Steve Murray, Yorke Peninsula MP Fraser Ellis and Adelaide Hills’ Dan Cregan to oppose their party’s amendments and indicate they would cross the floor on the bill’s third reading.
Members in the public gallery cheered as the four rebel MPs sided with State Labor, along with the Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell, to adjourn debate.
A further two votes saw the junior MPs vote against the Marshall Liberal Government, resulting in three losses and postponing further debate on the bill until February next year.
Mr McBride had earlier spoken out against the bill and the Liberal Party, which has been opposed by farmers across the state, for failing to consider the disparity in the legislation.
Under current state law, a farmer has no right of veto on exploration or mining on their land.
The legislation allows mining and exploration companies to take landholders to court if they are refused entry.
Ex-rural MP Michael Pengilly said although he understood the motives of Mr Ellis, whose community is fighting a proposed copper mine, he slammed Mr McBride, Mr Cregan and Mr Murray’s actions as “destructive” before saying they were “bloody fools”.
However, the dissident Liberals were praised by Greens MLC Mark Parnell, who said the delay in the vote would provide more time for his party to lobby the State Government for stronger farmers’ rights.
Mr Parnell, who in 2010 sought to introduce similar amendments to the mining act, labelled the move as “embarrassing for the government”.
“I am happy to congratulate those Liberal members who have pushed it and I thought it was good having people in the public gallery because it can give courage to members,” he said.
“There was a busload of Yorke Peninsula landowners who had come up and having them sit there and eyeball the country Liberal members was very effective I think.”
Mr Parnell said his party would introduce amendments to the mining bill, which is likely to progress to the upper house in February with the support of Labor.
“The main issue we have been talking about is the rights of landholders versus the rights of mining companies, but our amendments will extend further than that,” he said.
“The Greens will look to give rights to the broader community to have a say on mining developments, which is important because it does not just affect landowners.”
