Question Time

Koppamurra Mining Licence

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:18): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister explain the process and timeframes associated with applying for a mining licence? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: Australian Rare Earths (AR3) have completed exploratory drilling in the Koppamurra region in the South-East. Local farmers are concerned about the impacts this type of mining will have on their water resources and high-value agricultural land. Some have heard that mining could commence in 12 months.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:18): First and foremost, thank you to the member for MacKillop for his question. I know he is a keen supporter of the agriculture sector, especially in his electorate, and he is a long-time proponent of the rights of farmers. But the state has to balance the farming obligations that communities have and, of course, our obligations to exploit our natural mineral wealth and endowment to make sure that the state gets the benefit of the resources we all collectively own that are beneath the ground.

I can assure the member and the house it is a robust and extensive process—in fact, it is so robust and extensive that to describe the entire process in just four minutes would not do it justice. However, comprehensive information about the process is available from my department's website.

In terms of timeframes, these depend on the complexities of each individual project. There is not a cookie-cutter development approval process. Every project is taken on its merits. Every project is different, every environmental impact is different, the topography is different, the land is different, and the existing use is different, so therefore we take each one on a case-by-case basis.

Prior to considering a mining lease application, proponents are required to submit an application that meets the minimum standards—considering potential impacts on the environment first and foremost—and describes the appropriate environmental outcomes that will be achieved. It is a requirement of the Mining Act that an application describes the results of community consultation and efforts to minimise the impacts and concerns raised as a result of the proposed project.

This process for gathering the required information, consulting with stakeholders, making a submission, and government assessing prior to the decision to grant by a government can take years. It can take as little as two years and up to 10 years, and it depends entirely on the complexity of the environmental approvals that are required and the resourcing capability of the proponent, which we take into account.

I note that AR3 are yet to make a mining lease application. Local members, by their democratic rights, are entitled to advocate on behalf of one industry or another, but I also think we should give people and the legislation that we have passed in this place through the Mining Act the benefit of the doubt to run through the regulatory processes before we make assumptions.

Having said that, despite all the approvals that every single mining company must go through to get a mining approval, the final approval rests with the executive and that is the minister. The parliament has deemed that this should be decided by an elected parliamentarian. I can delegate that authority to other people, but ultimately I can reach in at any time and use other considerations to approve or reject an application. That is what the parliament has entrusted me to do.

I will let my department do its independent assessment on the basis of the consultation and the processes that this company is required to do by law and regulation, it will be assessed thoroughly and independently, and once that is done a recommendation will be made and it will be assessed on its merits. I do ask the member to keep an open mind because mines equal jobs and jobs equal prosperity.