Article by Matt Bell, courtesy of The Australian.
Mining and exploration companies want state and federal governments to overhaul regulatory frameworks and mandate appropriate environmental outcomes in a bit to reduce approval times and keep Australia an attractive place to do business.
The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, which counts Fortescue, Mineral Resources and Regis Resources as members, says the newly elected Northern Territory government, which wants to halve approval times, could pave the way for other governments to follow.
AMEC acting chief executive Neil van Drunen told The Australian there was uncertainty in the sector from settings that make it hard to get projects off the ground, adding that a pared-back Nature Positive bill would add more red tape.
“It will feed into the wider narrative that there needs to be multiple levels of regulation on certain topics. Climate change is currently regulated at a state level and there is regulation at a federal level. This would then be duplicated again if you included in the Nature Positive legislation,” he said.
Labor and the Greens have held heated discussions on whether to include a “climate trigger” in the EPA legislation, part of the biggest overhaul of habitat and species protection laws in almost 25 years.
Mr van Drunen said duplicated regulation made it harder for projects to stack up because miners and explorers have to adapt to regulation that was essentially the same, but worded slightly differently.
“When it’s worded slightly differently, companies have a narrow path that they have to go and negotiate between the two approvals for the same activity,” he said.
“Duplicate approvals isn’t just a cost at the beginning and hiring more consultants to do modelling for state and federal laws, but then it’s the ongoing cost from having different conditions for slightly different wording that mean you have to provide certain different reports at certain times.”
Miners and explorers already took environmental concerns seriously, he said, adding there were strict conditions around emissions put in place by international backers and financiers.
“It’s gone from being something that is a niche topic to being business as usual for most of our members,” he said.
“Our members are strong on wanting to achieve the appropriate environmental outcomes but we don’t see the need for creating extra volumes of paper just to do that. If there’s a simpler, less bureaucratic way of achieving the same environmental outcome we should definitely do that.”
The Country Liberal government in the NT has promised to reduce approval times by 50 per cent and make it easier for miners to get approved, which Mr Van Drunen said served as a positive step of introducing a sensible framework around approvals and regulation.
“The Northern Territory has been very clear that they want more development, more jobs and growth. The plan to cut approval time frames by 50 per cent is music to our ears, and even if they don’t hit that target it will still be a win because it will reduce government bureaucracy,” he said.
“We’ve got to be realistic about how we can reduce approval times and the cost of business. We don’t want wages to change as it supports a great quality of life, but the government can do an awful lot to reduce the number of fees, levies that are charged on industry or that makes it easier to get on the ground and explore.”
Goldminer Regis Resources said Australia had become a less ¬attractive place to invest after the Albanese government blocked its flagship McPhillamys project in NSW last month following the use by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek of section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Heritage Protection Act.
The industry claims this section of the Act, enacted by Labor in 1984 during the lands rights movement, was being weaponised by green activists. Mr van Drunen said miners were now wondering that if section 10 was now being used what else was out there.
He added that lengthy approvals and costs had seen miners look to deploy capital overseas, North America seen as the main rival.
“There’s certainly a flow of capital that’s occurring,” he said. “Interest in North America is remaining very high and part of that is because of their resolved issues around First Nations people,” Mr van Drunen said.
“They’ve got a clearer pathway with issues with First Nations people, and then also that they’ve got a better cost profile and lower approval time frames.”
The Minerals Council of Australia last week accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of starting a new class war by deliberately bringing conflict to every workplace through “reckless” industrial relations laws and threatening the economy through arbitrary environmental decisions that risk the viability of nation-building projects.
