Surface Coal Mining Prohibition (Lake Macquarie) Bill 2009

December 1, I met with the Minister for Planning, Kristina Keneally, one of her advisors and a senior person from the Department of Planning to discuss the Government’s position on the Bill.

It is my understanding that a Cabinet decision on whether to support such a Bill is based largely if not solely on the recommendation of the relevant Minister. The Minister indicated from the start of the meeting that she had decided not to support the Bill.

Her reasons included the view that the existing provisions for Lake Macquarie contained within SEPP (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries) 2007, are sufficient to ensure that open cut, including the recent auger mining proposal, remain a prohibition with Lake Macquarie.

The Minister referred to advice from legal counsel on which they have based this view. Even more surprisingly, she indicated to me that this advice - or part thereof - was the reason Centennial Coal withdrew its proposal for the Olstan project. This is completely at odds with the reasons stated by Centennial and raises questions as to why any decisive opinion was not released or even referred to by the Government at that time.

Local residents and myself had been waiting for the release of advice from Counsel and many were disappointed when we were told that the seeking of advice was discontinued when the project was withdrawn. Something just doesn’t add up with that view, however the Minister responded to my question by saying that she would find out why the advice wasn’t referred to. In the meantime, I have lodged an FOI application with the Department of Planning for information relating to any legal or technical advice it may have received regarding the permissibility of the project.

The Minister also said that the DoP had concerns that provisions of my Bill may have unforeseen impacts on underground mining operations by inadvertently prohibiting associated surface works such as buildings, drifts and other infrastructure. I do not believe that there is any likelihood that such an interpretation could be made of the Bill and can only see both purported reasons as an attempt to justify what seems to be a political decision to not support a Private Member’s Bill, particularly a Private Member who holds a notional Labor seat!

Advancing the Bill at this stage would see it “killed” by the Government, so I will be postponing debate on the Bill until next year and use the ensuing time to meet with local residents, particularly the executives of BAM, SCAM and NOCMFA to discuss where to from here.

The Bill is inherently sensible and supports and improves on State policy. It is about ensuring that no clever use of definitions can bring about another proposal for an open cut mine or anything that looks or smells like an open cut mine. I remain supportive of the coal mining industry in Lake Macquarie where coal is retrieved using traditional underground methods. This Bill should be passed.