ON MONDAY, July 11 there was a very informative segment on the ABC Radio National breakfast program about deep seabed mining which is predicted to commence within five years.

Mining will operate much like a vacuum cleaner sucking up minerals such as zinc, cobalt, lithium and other rare earth elements then return the sludge back to the sea floor.

It seems mining companies will soon be able to destroy the marine environment just like our farmland.

The prospect of doing this type of mining in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean with a nice little island complete with international airport in the middle of a 400,000 square kilometre economic exclusion zone was just too much for the greedy Australian Government to resist, so they have invaded and occupied the smallest Commonwealth Nation, Norfolk Island.

When the Australian Government sacked the democratically elected Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly last year there followed two to three months of aircraft 'mapping' around the island and about a month ago a high-profile mining magnate spent time on Norfolk - all this may be coincidental but I think not.

CLIVE PLATER, EUDLO