Ilargi,
This behaviour from governments is happening all over. As I write, the NSW government and Rio Tinto have taken the hapless citizens from Bulga to the supreme court to overturn a rare win by them in the Land and Environment Court recently which blocked the expansion or Rio Tinto’s Warkworth coal mine.
To cap this off, the NSW government is amending planning laws to make the “economic benefit” of any mining application the only criteria in granting mining permission.
Tough luck if you live near a mine.