CMPA NEWS (Issue 47)
By ROGER BUCKLEY
The Secretariat has been busy organising and running various workshops and training courses as well as representing members views to Government. ROGER BUCKLEY, CMPA Executive Director, outlines the latest happenings.
ANNUAL DINNER 2010
It may seem a little early, but lock in Saturday 21st August 2010 for next years AGM and Annual Dinner. The RACV Club in Bourke St Melbourne has been booked and it promises to be a special night! Write it in your diary now so you don’t forget. More details to follow in the coming months.
DPI STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
CMPA attended the DPI Stakeholders Forum in November. This forum is held with DPI and representative from the extractives, mining and prospecting sectors. Issues around increasing costs of Cultural Heritage Management Plans, community engagement, release of the new extractive industry regulations and the review of the extractive and mining legislation were discussed.
PHOTOS OF THE CMPA ANNUAL DINNER
Copies of happy snaps from the recent CMPA Annual Dinner can be downloaded for FREE by clicking on the link on the CMPA home page at www.cmpavic.asn.au. Copies of high quality images can also be emailed to you by contacting the Secretariat.
QUARRY SHIRE VALUATIONS
Has the value placed on your quarry operation during the recent round of local council valuations increased significantly? Will this mean you have to pay more council rates and Land Tax? The Valuer General has recently released a guide to valuing quarries which may have lead to this increase.
The CMPA are in discussions with the Valuer General’s office to ensure a fair, consistent methodology is used. If you want to be involved in meetings so the CMPA can establish the full range of members concerns and help to identify issues that need to be resolved with the Valuer General’s office, please contact the Secretariat.
SHOT FIRERS REFRESHER TRAINING & ASSESSMENT
Is your Shot Firers licence near the end of its 5 year term? Have you received a request from WorkSafe to renew your Shot Firers licence.
If so, you need to attend the 1 day CMPA organized refresher training for currently licensed Shot Firers, presented by Box Hill Institute of TAFE.
The training will be conducted in the morning and followed in the afternoon by the Victorian WorkCover Authority examination for the Use of Blasting Explosives.
Courses will be held around Victoria at Ballarat (24th November), Bendigo (27th November) and Melbourne (Box Hill – 1st December).
Cost is $400 members and $500 non members, including the $150 Work Safe fee. Contact the Secretariat ASAP to book your place as numbers are strictly limited.
APPLY FOR FUEL REBATE
Don’t forget to apply for the fuel rebate available from the Commonwealth Government.
Fuel tax credits provide your business with a credit for the fuel tax included in the price of fuel your business uses. The business must be registered for both goods and services tax (GST) and fuel tax credits before it can make a claim. The business claims fuel tax credits on their business activity statement (BAS).
Eligibility for fuel tax credits was expanded on 1 July 2008, as part of a gradual implementation up to 1 July 2012. The fuel tax credit rate for most construction material processing activities is 19.0715 cents per litre. This rate is 50% of the full rate of 38.143 cents per litre which will apply from 1 July 2012.
More information is available from the Australian Tax Office website at http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/BUS76594nat14584.pdf
POINT WILSON QUARRY EES
The Minister for Planning recently released his Assessment, under the Environment Effects Act 1978, of the proposed 50 year, 330 hectare extension of the Barro Group Mountain View Quarry at Point Wilson. The assessment allowed the proposed project to proceed, subject to modifications that reduce the perceived environmental risks.
The assessment came after community consultation and considered the likely environmental impacts and risks for the adjacent Ramsar wetlands and conservation values of international significance, as well as the economic benefits of the project.
The Minister for Energy & Resources will now consider the Ministerial Assessment in ensuring the detailed Work Plan for the site reflects the Assessment before the Work Authority variation can be granted. The EES process has taken over 5 years and a considerable amount of money to get to this point.
DPI BOND ASSESSMENT
The DPI is conducting a general review of the level of the rehabilitation bond for key sites around the state. These bond levels are being set according to the “Bond Calculator” which can be downloaded from the DPI website (www.dpi.vic.gov.au, click earth resources, click earth resource industries, click extractives, click environment, click guidelines). Some reevaluations of bonds have lead to an eight times increase in the bond level.
With the current practice of only accepting a bank guarantee for the bond often placing unnecessary financial burden on operators, be proactive and discuss with your DPI inspector different ways that the “Bond Calculator” may be interpreted to reduce your liability. Please contact the Secretariat to discuss your concerns.
CMPA MEMBERS GENERAL MEETING 2010
A general meeting of CMPA members has been set down for early February 2010 at Bendigo. This event may also be linked with a site visit to a nearby quarry, an afternoon workshop activity and a BBQ dinner. This meeting will provide an opportunity to be updated first hand on key issues affecting the industry as well as network with your colleagues. More details will be provided in the coming months.
UNFAIR GOVERNMENT ROYALTY LEVELS
Victoria’s extractive industry currently pays to Government a royalty of $0.87/tonne of stone extracted from Crown land (at surface or at depth greater than 15.2m). This compares to most minerals in Victoria that pay a royalty of 2.75% of the value of production (equivalent to $0.38/tonne of stone) and interstate operators who generally pay somewhere between $0.35 – $0.50/tonne of stone.
Why do Victorian quarry operators have to pay such an unfair royalty rate, which is the same amount, even for low value products?
CMPA are in discussions with DPI on this issue. Thank you to those CMPA members who responded to our recent survey on royalties. It is never easy
getting the Government to agree on giving them less money, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
LOADS OF INFORMATION ON THE CMPA WEBSITE
The CMPA website has loads of information on everything you ever wanted to know about the Association:
- Upcoming events,
- Recent editions of Sand & Stone,
- Details of the CMPA preferred suppliers of goods and services,
- Details of the operator checklists,
- Outline of the informative reference manuals, and
- Membership information
Don’t let the kids have all the fun on the internet, go surfing at www.cmpavic.asn.au
SAFETY FORUM
CMPA attended the Earth Resources Tripartite Safety Forum meeting held with WorkSafe, unions and representatives from the extractives, mining and prospecting sectors in November.
The OHS Safety statistics for 2008-09 were provided for the extractive industry which again indicates that the industry must continue to work towards improving safety at the workplace.
WorkSafe were also strongly encouraged to focus their regulatory effort to ensure that suppliers of plant and equipment meet Victorian safety standards.
DUST WORKSHOP
A Dust Workshop will be held to revisit the obligations of operators, including employee health, raise the knowledge of industry participants on the issues around dust and dust management and to develop industry agreed best practices.
This will help to enhance CMPA OH&S support sheets as well as WorkSafe guidance material. The workshop will include presentations from WorkSafe and the EPA.
Date: Thur. 3rd December 2009
Time: Noon – 4pm (includes lunch)
Place: Komatsu Training Room, 1608 Hume Highway, Campbellfield
Cost: $40 members $60 non members
RSVP Thursday 26th November – get in early as numbers limited.
Participants are asked to bring digital photos of dust management examples to share.
Proudly sponsored by Komatsu.
RECENT EVENTS
A successful CMPA Guarding Workshop was conducted at Tullamarine on 8th October. Almost 50 people from industry, Government and unions attended the afternoon discussing issues around guarding of fixed plant.
Roger met with the Institute of Quarrying to discuss implementing the Memorandum of Understanding between the CMPA and the IQA. The MoU covers links to each other’s websites and joint advertising of educational opportunities held by either organisation.
A submission on the proposed changes to the Planning & Environment Act 1987 was made to the Department of Planning & Community Development.
Letter submitted to the DPI regarding the sterilisation of strategic construction material resources in the Urban Growth Boundary.
Survey distributed to CMPA Voting Members seeking member’s views on Crown Land royalty rates. Outcomes from the survey will aid discussions with DPI seeking a fairer and more equitable royalty rate for construction materials.
Comments were provided to DPI on their draft Code of Practice for Small Quarries.
A joint Associate/Management Committee Meeting was held recently to help plan for the 2010 Annual Dinner as well discuss other items of interest.
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