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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-13 Daily Xml
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Regional Mining

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding mining in regional areas, and I am glad he is a minister who likes consultation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: On 21 February this year, weeks out in the state election, the minister wrote a letter addressed to the chairman of Grain Producers SA. In this letter, the minister states, and I quote:

The review of the Mining Act is a topic which we have had an ongoing dialogue on. As you are aware, the Liberal Party refused to rush the rewrite of the Mining Act, as we believe that it can go further in balancing agriculture with competing land uses. In consultation with primary industries, we will continue to consult on and finalise that legislative process as soon as practicable.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister advise if he stands by the words I have just read out?

2. On 25 October, during question time, the minister said he made it clear to the Yorke Peninsula community that if the Liberal Party was elected to government there would be a consultation period. Considering the increased pressure from regional communities, particularly the Yorke Peninsula residents, do you feel statements like the ones made in your letter to Grain Producers SA and at a community forum held on Yorke Peninsula were in fact 'very clear' and the community are satisfied with the government's consultation process on this bill?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:29): I thank the honourable member for her ongoing interest in this matter. The interest, I have to say, clearly wasn't there by the Labor Party prior to the election, but certainly since the election they have gained an interest.

I will say that the Hon. Mr Parnell and I collectively, in the lead-up to the election, said that this bill was too important to rush through, and I think we had broad agreement from the Greens and the other crossbenchers—I think the Hon. Mr Darley. I think we all agreed that to try to rush it through—I am not quite sure; Mr Darley was orange at that point, so that's a strange combination of colours: blue, green and orange.

Nonetheless, we decided that it should be adjourned until after the election. I made it very clear on Yorke Peninsula and a number of times that my view was that they were two very important industries, agriculture and mining, and where possible we have to find a way for them to coexist.

I also made it clear that it would be the Minister for Mining's responsibility—and I assumed if we were successful and won the election it would be the Hon. Dan van Holst Pellekaan, which clearly it has been—because it is his bill. It is not an agriculture bill. If I had been fortunate enough to be the minister for agriculture it would not be in the bill that I would be responsible for; it would always be a review of the Mining Act, as a responsibility of the mining minister.

Yes, I said there would be a period of consultation, and we are still consulting. The minister tabled it before the winter break and it has been out there for discussion. I think Grain Producers SA and the South Australian chamber of mines are in robust dialogue at the moment, which is what two industries would be doing to put the case of their members to try to come up with some sort of workable resolution to the differences that exist.

What I said last year was that, yes, we would consult, and that is still ongoing. The bill hasn't progressed any further than being tabled in the House of Assembly. I said on 24 or 25 October, I can't recall—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke: The 25th.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The 25th, the Hon. Ms Bourke says—exactly the same I think in relation to a question she quoted from Mr Alex Brown, I think from recollection, that exactly what we said we would do we are doing. In the former government—and I had people coming to me who said, 'The government said they would consult.' They did but people always expect that when you consult you are going to get 100 per cent support for your point of view. This will be an issue where there will always be a bit of give and take and there will always be some land use conflict. It is Yorke Peninsula and other parts of the state. We are still consulting on it and I expect the consultation will continue to go on for some time.

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