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Double red tape victory for industry

ssociation of Mining & Exploration Ltd’s destruction of
ACompanies (AMEC) chief executive the 40,000-year-old
Warren Pearce is confident regulatory shelters in the Pil-
duplication between states and the Com- bara included a ref-
monwealth is on its way out despite calls erence to improving
for new federal legislation in light of the heritage protection
Juukan Gorge caves fiasco. through the EPBC
AMEC has worked tirelessly alongside Act. Instead of an-
several industry groups to convince the other layer of federal
Federal Government to remove unneces- regulation, AMEC is
sary duplication in Australia’s environmen- calling for WA’s un-
tal approvals system. der-revision Aborigi-
A finalisation of this push appeared to be nal Heritage Act to
near in July when an interim report into the be rolled out across
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity the country.
Conservation (EPBC) Act recommended WA Minister for
a single touch system which would be Aboriginal Affairs,
framed through a national environmental Ben Wyatt has been
standards structure. leading a reform
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt process around the
said the review should help remove dupli- Aboriginal Herit-
cation in the project approval process. age Act for more
“I particularly welcome any move to es- than two years and
tablish ‘single touch approvals’ and bilat- Pearce believes
eral agreements with state and territory the updated legisla-
government by establishing national en- tion will form a gold
vironmental standards,” Minister Pitt said. standard for Abo-
“The single touch’ environmental bilater- riginal affairs in Aus-
al assessment and approvals, and positive tralia.
ongoing discussions with State and Terri- “Industry, Tradi-
tory Governments, suggest there is now a tional Owners and
real chance of meaningful reform.” government have
Pearce told Paydirt the interim report worked together on
was “a broadly positive step towards more the Aboriginal Her-
efficient legislation”. itage Review Act in
“The agreement with states on bilateral WA for some time
approval would be a big step forward for but the Rio Tinto in- Warren Pearce
licensing timeframes and more work on a cident has put a negative spotlight on the
national environmental standard would be sector with calls for the Federal Govern- inquiry, AMEC said “any recommendation
great,” he said. “That standard needs to be ment to intervene and put legislation in for Commonwealth Government interven-
outcome-focused, not too proscriptive.” place. The roll out of the WA Act is sup- tion at this stage of the legislation’s devel-
WA Environment Minister Stephen Daw- ported by Traditional Owners and indus- opment is unlikely to improve outcomes for
son said the bilateral agreement would be try as a framework for all of Australia. So, any of the participants”.
a kick-start to the economy and streamline rather than react to this incident – which I “It seems counter-intuitive that as the
the environmental approvals process”. don’t think is reflective of the broader in- State legislation, the Commonwealth Gov-
“It’s also significant because consistent dustry – with more legislation, we should ernment’s statutory EPBC Act Review and
and timely environmental decision-making be taking on board the lessons learnt. the Productivity Commission’s Resource
benefits the community in Western Aus- “The Juukan Gorge caves has high- Regulation Sector Inquiry all seek to re-
tralia and is a win for the environment,” lighted the importance of good heritage duce overlap, the Joint Standing Commit-
Dawson said. “The State’s pipeline of surveys but also that the relationship with tee contemplates expanding duplication,”
development proposals will benefit from Traditional Owners is an ongoing one. AMEC said in its submission.
the faster, clearer and more consistent Companies must work with Traditional “Any move to expand the existing du-
environmental assessments and approv- Owners across the project life, balanc- plication of Commonwealth Government
als that we can achieve with a bilateral ap- ing company investment with an ongoing legislation will be an overreach. It is our
proval agreement.” learning of land they’re working on. It is view that Aboriginal Heritage will be best,
While the agreement paves the way for difficult to frame legislation around that. and most appropriately, protected through
an end to environmental approval dupli- Agreements need to be outcomes-based State legislation.”
cation, Pearce is wary of public calls for and relationships are the critical part of it
more regulation around heritage surveys (that was our submission to the parliamen- – Dominic Piper
following the Juukan Gorge Caves inci- tary inquiry).
dent. The senate inquiry into Rio Tinto In its submission to the parliamentary

Page 8 OCTOBeR 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT