From the Secretariat (Issue 68)

State of the Extractive Industry within Victoria

BRUCE MCCLURE, General Manager of the CMPA reflects on where the Extractive Industry is at in Victoria.

IT is interesting to reflect on where the CMPA has travelled over the last two and a half years.

When I started with the association the Australian economy was very strong with the mining boom still the major factor in our economy. The extractive industry in Victoria was busy with many federal state and local government projects underway. Victoria had major flooding in many areas around the State in 2010, 2011 and 2012 necessitating the purchase of considerable material from many extractive industry sites.

There was a change in State Government in November 2010 and this also impacted on the CMPA and its approach to many of the issues that the industry was facing. Lobbying of the various parties was intense but in hindsight I am not sure that this has been reflected through in many changes in Government policy.

Over the last twelve months we have seen a slowdown in projects and even though the majority of our members are still producing products the real concern is the predicted slow down in infrastructure projects across Victoria due to constraints on spending by Federal and State Governments over the next few years.

Over the last two and a half years there have been twenty nine submissions to State and Federal Government departments. These submissions are important as they highlight the concerns that the extractive industry has with a number of areas that are seriously constraining the industry and in some areas starting to have a major affect on the viability of many family businesses across the State.

The CMPA has always maintained that regulation of the industry is necessary but that the regulations put into place need to be fair and they need to be balanced and rational. Unfortunately, for most areas of concern this is not the case.

For many years the CMPA has been pointing out that there is a sterilisation of extractive industry resources across the state as holdups to variations to existing sites or the establishment of new sites have been seriously delayed or refused due to a combination of factors such as complicated and costly planning requirements, native vegetation framework and cultural heritage related issues.

A meeting was held with local government and state government officers plus other interested parties in October last year at Camperdown to discuss where extractive industry products were going to come from to support the proposed construction of 2,500 wind generators and associated road works on the various sites and on existing local roads in this area of the Western District. This meeting clearly highlighted a problem that is only going to get worse unless major action is taken very quickly to reverse this trend.

Without prompt action by the State Government in addressing and quarantining future supplies of extractive industry products especially in the Melbourne area, the problem currently faced in the Western District will become more prevalent and inevitably cause major disruptions and cost blowouts in future infrastructure projects in the State.

There have also been a considerable number of meetings with State government department officers as part of the process of revisiting regulations and being part of the consultation process when new procedures or processes were being considered by the various departments. Many of these meetings have been beneficial but too many have been a waste of time with a lack of any real progress on a number of important and far reaching points that will continue to affect the future of the extractive industry in this state.

The Construction Material Processors Association is a vital association for all participants within the extractive industry and its steady hand and influence is going to become vital in the years ahead.

SURVEY OF MEMBERS

The CMPA Members Survey for 2013 will be sent out shortly to all Voting and Associate Members.

The purpose again of the CMPA Member Survey is to further capture the matters of relevance to Members in order to effectively direct the Association’s resources and activities for the betterment of Member’s.

Information from the survey will enable the Secretariat:
• to effectively represent the Membership at all levels of government;
• to provide governments with a better understanding of the significant impacts they have on the industry; and
• to provide government with a better understanding of the impact the industry has on the State’s economy; and
• to provide required business focused services to the Membership; in education,training and business operations and
management.

The effective provision of these services will provide a reference point for Members to move forward with confidence and to continue to invest in their operations.

Please invest this time to ensure the CMPA stays relevant to your business needs.

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