From the Secretariat (Issue 67)

Very little seems to have changed

BRUCE MCCLURE, General Manager of the CMPA comments on a number of issues that are currently impacting the members.

IN the CMPA News, Issue 25 February 2006, the CMPA reported that the DPI was seeking feedback from stakeholders regarding the review of the Extractive Industries Development Act 1995. The CMPA commented as follows on a couple of points under the below headings.

GOVERNMENT POLICIES

The industry is not in isolation, there are pieces of legislation other than the specific Act and corresponding regulations that the industry must comply with. There is a whole series of Government policies which may affect the Extractive Industry including the State Planning Policy, Melbourne 2030, the win-win-win philosophy, Sustainability Framework, Native Vegetation Framework, Native Title, Aboriginal Heritage, and a Towards Zero Waste Policy.

ISSUES FACING INDUSTRY

Issues facing the industry include the availability of resources, access to and protection of resources, planning, transport costs, delays in approval processes, planning permit requirements, Work Plan variations, rehabilitation plan and bond flexibility, the cost of Environmental Effects Statements, the cost of owning a buff er and the financial costs of sterilization, the risk of a landowner revoking an agreement, unsuitability of standards, etc.

The disappointing fact about the two paragraphs above is that we are now in the process of a review of the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 2010 and have been in discussion with the DPI on this particular review since 2010.

The review is in two phases and only Phase 1 has reached the stage where legislation has occurred. Phase 2 proposals are long way from any sort of agreement. So, in 9 years since many of the issues, concerns were first flagged by the CMPA back then, and despite countless hours of discussion, considerable funds spent to facilitate discussions and to provide submissions, the question needs to be asked. “What is happening within the bureaucracies that are supposed to be looking after the interests of the state and its extractive industries? Why is Victoria not progressing in the areas that impact on the extractive industries and indeed on the citizens of Victoria?”

In the same CMPA News Issue 25 February 2006, I was working in private industry and submitted an article for the CMPA News. Part of this article is shown below.

AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES

We believe that there is not a shortage of extractive resources in Victoria as most materials required for the foreseeable future are still in existence. The problem is not lack of materials; the really big issue will be access to the sources of material. For example, many good sources of hard durable rock suitable for excellent fine crushed products are located on hills. This is simply a factor of normal geological degradation over thousands of years.

Attempting to open a quarry source on a hill in most of Victoria, especially within the sight of human habitation, is becoming increasingly difficult. People want the benefits that the rock will bring but the NIMBY principle as well as an increasingly active environmental group within the Victorian community makes access extremely difficult if not impossible. It may be the case that material can be sourced from areas well away from Melbourne or the majority of the Regional Centres which meets all environmental issues and is not affected by the NIMBY principle. The main problem of this scenario is the cost. The cost of production and transportation may simply make infrastructure projects unviable.

There are a number of extractive deposits available on private land. One major issue for future development of these sources which needs to be re-examined and dealt with is the relationships and responsibilities between Land Owners, Quarry Operators and the DPI.

Another major issue that will affect future use and availability of materials is the time it takes from concept to actual material transported to a customer. The whole process takes far too long and needs to be simplified.

Submission supplied by: Bruce McClure,McClure Earthmoving, Bendigo

The above article is a bit of Déjà vu. Even though the article was written 9 years ago, its sediments are still of concern today as we in the extractive industry constantly point out to the government departments, to the politicians that we have not moved forward on many of the issues around us.

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