Laws must work better for nature and business, the federal government says, as the mining sector fires up against what it claims are investment-sapping interventions.
“Hard decisions are part of the job and I won’t shy away from them,” Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told a hostile industry audience at the Minerals Council of Australia’s annual gathering in Canberra on Wednesday.
“But there’s more to do on approvals and that will be a focus of the next stage of our law reforms.”
Ms Plibersek said projects were getting approved more quickly – one in a mere nine weeks – “because it was in the right place, done in the right way”.
“As recently as yesterday I signed off on a salt and sulphate of potash project near Karratha. There are times I won’t,” she said.
The decision to approve BCI Minerals’ industrial salt project follows a federal block on a $1 billion gold project in NSW on cultural heritage grounds, which Regis Resources has vowed to overcome.
Her icy reception follows industry criticism of what they say is the looming threat of onerous and arbitrary decisions on environmental grounds.
But the minister called for “a bit of co-operation, compromise and common sense” from the resources sector, promising a full exposure draft of proposed changes before any new laws were put to parliament.
“These laws have something for everyone – the environment and business,” Ms Plibersek said.
Separately, a First Nations Engagement Standard for project referrals is intended to provide certainty about requirements and who to consult.
Ms Plibersek said no one wanted another Juukan Gorge, where Rio Tinto blew up ancient caves, or the “disastrous” attempt at cultural heritage law reform in Western Australia.
“We’ll take our time to get it right. We won’t be rushed. And everyone will get a chance to have a say,” she said.
As opinion polls tighten, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton anointed himself the resource sector’s best friend by promising to wind back protections if he wins office.
“A government that I lead will not allow activists to dictate economic policy and to pull the handbrake on our prosperity,” Mr Dutton told the audience.
“And we will cut green tape while striking the right balance between our responsibilities to the environment and the economy.”
He committed to defunding the Environmental Defenders Office and limiting the the ability for third parties to challenge decisions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The Environmental Defenders Office, the national body dedicated to protecting climate and communities through running litigation and advocating for law reform, had millions of dollars of federal funding restored by Labor after it was cut in 2013.
Mr Dutton’s promise comes after Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constable declared miners were “under siege”.
The opposition leader slammed the Albanese government’s “excessive intervention, undue regulation, and skyrocketing energy costs”, saying it has plunged the sector into “hardship, hurdles and headwinds”.
“Labor is worried about losing votes to Greens candidates in inner-city seats, so the party is looking to shore-up that constituency ahead of an election,” Mr Dutton said.
“The government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of the national interest.”
He promised to “turbocharge” the mining sector to help steer the nation through the economic slump and into another boom.
“A Dutton coalition government will be the best friend that the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have,” he said.
Mr Dutton reiterated his party’s push for more gas production and a fleet of nuclear reactors to replace coal-fired power plants.
