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What should the industry be concerned about from the new

Government? Given McGowan and the ALP’s massive majority,

there will be some concern the Premier will be emboldened

enough to resurrect the spectre of a gold royalty increase.

iven they are not usually natural New Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Stephen Dawson proved him-
Gbedfellows it could be expected self a capable Environment Minister, who worked particularly well with
most mining executives greeted the Johnson. He has his work cut out for him this time around.
Australian Labor Party’s victory in What should the industry be concerned about from the new Gov-
Western Australia with a groan. ernment. Given McGowan and the ALP’s massive majority, there will
However, as everyone knows these aren’t normal political times be some concern the Premier will be emboldened enough to resur-
and given the State’s performance in the last four years, and the last rect the spectre of a gold royalty increase.
12 months in particular, it is more likely industry was glad to see Mark It would be an unwise move. McGowan has proven remarkably
McGowan’s Government returned to power for another term. pragmatic and steadfast during the pandemic but the power he now
(Given that many executives live in suburbs which switched from has within parliament and his own party could lead to a feeling of in-
Liberal to the ALP a good few of them likely contributed to the result). vincibility.
In the world’s largest mining jurisdiction, policy should be almost As Kevin Rudd found out when he had similar levels of popularity, it
bipartisan; in much the way defence is on the federal stage. The two doesn’t pay to become too radical.
major parties can argue around the edges of certain issues but in You may think the easiest way to rank the McGowan Government’s
the main they should be heading in the same direction. (There may performance is via the Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining
have to be more bipartisanship on this occasion given the dearth of Companies.
an opposition). The Canadian thinktank’s annual survey is an easy-to-use refer-
So, what will be on the industry wish-list for the returning McGowan ence for mining companies and governments – who doesn’t like a
Government and the retained Mines Minister Bill Johnston? There are league table to compare themselves with peers? – but it is far from an
few new threats emerging; approval timelines, open labour market accurate reflection.
and a downstream battery minerals strategy looming as some of the The two major rankings in the Fraser survey are the Policy Percep-
largest. Most have already been addressed. tion Index (“a report card for the attractiveness of a jurisdiction’s min-
The ALP’s pre-election $37.4 million commitment to reducing ap- ing policies”) and the Investment Attractiveness Index (which takes
provals timeframes via streamlining, digitisation and increased staff both mineral prospectivity and policy perception into consideration).
was widely welcomed by industry bodies and follows on from a $1.6 These are worthy benchmarks to measure performance on but
million injection for resource in the Department of Water and Environ- when you see WA has slipped from first in 2019 and second in 2018
mental Regulation and the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation despite no discernible negative changes to mining policy, you begin to
and Safety. question the methodology of the survey.
On the issue of labour, the WA Government may already be easing Any survey is only as good as both its qualitative and quantitative
some of the pressures. data. In 2003, the BBC ran a survey to find the Greatest American
The industry adapted well and met the government halfway on the of All-time, the Great British public voted Homer Simpson No.1, who
issue of hard borders during the lockdown but with the virus abating gained 40% of the vote with Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King
and the labour shortage rising, questions will again be raised about at 10% (Mr T came in at 8%).
bringing in workers from interstate and, eventually, overseas. I’m not saying the Fraser survey uses responses from Eastenders
There has been a subtle shift in McGowan’s highly popular hard viewers to form their rankings of mining jurisdictions, but neither is its
border policy in recent weeks. Instead of imposing the hard border on methodology full proof.
entire states, the 14-day quarantine period only applies to people who The survey was sent out to 2,200 exploration, development, and
have travelled through localised hotspots. This should have the effect other mining-related companies around the world. The problem is,
of releasing more workers from the Eastern States to enter WA. only 276 of them responded. To merit a ranking, a jurisdiction must
How the border issue plays out could be vital to many WA miners. be scored by at least five respondents. This inevitably will skew the
It won’t affect the big end of town – who can generally afford to buy perception index. It only takes a few disgruntled individuals to send a
the best in the local market – but the next rung of companies hoping country, state or province’s ranking down dramatically.
to build projects. The gold miners in particular are worried about how Even worse, it results in many jurisdictions falling off the index alto-
a heated labour market could affect margins in a softening gold price gether. This year’s survey does not include Cote d’Ivoire or Senegal
environment. (two of Africa’s largest gold producers) or emerging iron ore exporters
No matter how big the likes of Northern Star Resources Ltd, Evolu- Gabon and Republic of Congo.
tion Mining Ltd or even Newcrest Mining Ltd grow, they are unable to The survey is flawed, not in methodology but interpretation. While
compete with BHP Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd on salary in most circum- it is an interesting snapshot of the feelings of a handful of companies
stances. and would be good material if the Mines Minister of Nevada (which
The only remaining question mark hangs over reform of the Aborigi- attained No.1 ranking in investment attractiveness) ever wanted to rib
nal Heritage Act in light of the Juukan Gorge fiasco. Former Treasurer Johnston, ultimately it is about as objective as a survey which places
Ben Wyatt had committed to guiding legislation through the last par- Homer above Lincoln and King in the American pantheon.
liament but was obviously curtailed first by Juukan then the election.
All sides acknowledge reform of the Act was needed but the Juu-
kan Gorge incident has added further nuances and complications to
each stakeholder group’s stance. dominic@paydirt.com.au @DominicPiper

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