“For the first time in Australian history, a Commonwealth Government has undertaken a thorough and accurate stocktake of all federal regulatory costs and is consistently measuring and reducing the cost of Commonwealth government red tape on Australian businesses, organisations, families and individuals,”….
“Now, for the first time, a Commonwealth government has, with a very high degree of accuracy, publicly reported to Parliament a downturn in the total amount and cost of federal regulation. [Kevin Hogan, Nationals MP for Page, Media Release, Coalition decisions to cut red tape now total $2.45 billion, 19 March 2015]
A news article in The Age on 23 January 2016 should set alarm bells ringing in Australian rural and regional communities as this is what federal Liberal-Nationals MPs and senators, such as Nationals Member for Page Kevin Hogan, mean when they talk of reducing federal “red and green tape”:
Numerous large Australian coal mines have had their environmental regulations relaxed, in changes the federal government hopes will make life easier for the struggling industry.
Certain coal mines owned by Glencore, BHP Billiton and Whitehaven Coal have received favourable changes to their approval conditions within the past month, which in some cases reduce the environment minister's ability to demand changes and reduce public oversight of miners' compliance with approval conditions.
Certain coal mines owned by Glencore, BHP Billiton and Whitehaven Coal have received favourable changes to their approval conditions within the past month, which in some cases reduce the environment minister's ability to demand changes and reduce public oversight of miners' compliance with approval conditions…..
Approvals for two Glencore coal mines in the Hunter Valley, Bulga and Liddell, have had environmental conditions revoked within the past month which appear to remove the environment minister's ability to request changes to environmental management plans.
The Caval Ridge coal mine that BHP operates had eight conditions on its approval altered last week, including one which means the company no longer has to wait for written approval from the minister if it wishes to change the way it manages offset areas or threatened species, so long as the companies believe their new plan will not have an increased impact.
Some miners were also told they can report on compliance with their environmental conditions less often, with BHP now allowed to report on Caval Ridge once every two years rather than annually.
The alterations also mean BHP no longer have to publish their compliance reports for Caval Ridge on their websites, and instead need only submit their documents to the environment department.
BHP's Mt Arthur coal mine in the Hunter Valley and the Tarrawonga and Werris Creek coal mines run by Whitehaven have also had their environmental approvals altered….
The spokeswoman said that 34 project approvals had been changed over the past nine months, with the environmental conditions loosened in 21 of those cases.
The spokeswoman said the changes were being made to a range of project approvals, not just coal mines.
But coal mines appear to be very well represented, with Fairfax Media aware of at least seven coal approvals which have been changed in recent months.
Fairfax Media is aware of just one copper mine (BHP's Olympic Dam) and one iron ore mine (run by BC Iron) which have had conditions changed…..
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