From The Secretariat (Issue 74)

Proposed Annual fees for Extractive Industry

DR ELIZABETH GIBSON, reports on the CMPA’s submission to DSDBI on the proposed annual fees and fee increases for the extractive industry.

CMPA has recently made a submission, after consultation with Members, to the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) concerning the proposed annual fees and fee increases for the extractive industry that were detailed in the Exposure Draft Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) (Extractive Industries) Amendment Regulations and the accompanying Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS).

The submission points out numerous errors in the analysis (or lack of it) contained in RIS that ostensibly argues the case for a proposed new fee structure.

Effectively the new fees structure will increase fees payable to small operators over large operators by approximately 400%!

But it is not the increase that is necessarily of greatest concern to the CMPA, it is the factual errors, double counting and omissions in the RIS that seriously call into question the credibility of the whole RIS process.

What is also disturbing for the CMPA is that the poor quality of the RIS was not identified by the independent umpire of RIS, the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission (vCEC).

In its advice letter the vCEC’s stated its advice is based on the adequacy of the evidence presented in the RIS and is focused on the quality of the analysis rather than the merits of the proposal itself.

Therefore, on the VCEC’s advice the RIS is adequate and does not represent an endorsement of the proposal.

The VCEC noted that ‘broader reforms to the framework for regulating the mineral and extractive industries are being considered by the Government, which may have implications for cost recovery arrangements’.

Clearly VCEC had some misgivings about why the new fee structure was being introduced prior to the anticipated regulatory reforms being finalised – a point made by the CMPA in its submission.

A letter was sent by CMPA to the treasurer, the Hon Michael o’Brian outlining the concerns with the Exposure Draft and RIS.

Survey of Members

The CMPA Members Survey for 2014 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.

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 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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