August 23, 2012
The State Government last night passed legislation designed to streamline the approval process for mining projects and tell resource companies the State is “open for business”.
“The resources sector is one of the four pillars of Queensland’s economy, and our aim is to support the sustainable growth of this industry,” Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps said.
“Companies willing to invest in Queensland, with the aim of delivering jobs for Queenslanders, will not be hindered by this Government.
“We are in the business of getting Queensland back on track, not preventing economic prosperity for regional areas by drowning the resources sector in paperwork.”
Mr Cripps said that while the Bill streamlines the approval process for resource projects, it did not water down environmental assessments.
He said the major components of the Bill included:
- Modernising the tenure administration system and reducing the time taken for each tenure decision under the Streamlining Approvals Project;
- Clarifying legislation so that resource activities (such as exploration) and development activities (such as transport and infrastructure development) can co-exist;
- Clarifying an application of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to hazardous chemicals and major hazard facilities; and
- Streamlining the rules applying to the management and transport of water and brine produced by the CSG and LNG industries.
Mr Cripps said this Bill would eases the “legislative stranglehold” created by the previous Labor government.
“Twenty years of Labor had created a question mark over Queensland’s reputation as a safe place to invest in resource projects,” he said.
“We have replaced that question mark with an ‘open for business’ sign.”
