Mineral and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Introduced: 23/2/2016By: Hon Dr A Lynham MPStatus: PASSED with amendment

Environment Regional Queensland Justice & Rights

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Plain English Summary

Overview

This bill reverses a set of yet-to-commence changes to Queensland's resource laws that would have reduced the public's right to object to mining projects and weakened protections for farmers and rural landholders. It restores community objection rights in the Land Court, writes protections for homes, schools and key farm infrastructure into primary legislation, and removes ministerial powers to grant mining leases over land without the landholder's consent.

Who it affects

Farmers, rural landholders and communities near proposed mines gain back stronger rights to object and refuse consent; coal, coal seam gas and petroleum companies face restored public notification processes and must get written consent from landholders before mining restricted land.

Key changes

Restores the right for any person to object to a mining lease application in the Land Court on broad grounds including environmental impacts, land use and public interest
Expands 'restricted land' to include principal stockyards, dams, bores, artesian wells and water storage facilities, with buffer distances written into the Act itself (200m from homes/schools/hospitals, 50m from farm infrastructure)
Removes the Minister's power to grant mining leases over restricted land without the landholder's written consent and agreed compensation
Creates new rules requiring miners who enter land just to mark out mining boundaries to give notice, pay compensation for damage, and get consent for restricted land
Streamlines the coal and coal seam gas overlapping tenure framework so joint development plans are only required for production-over-production overlaps, while strengthening information exchange between overlapping tenure holders

How this affects you

Environment

•You keep the right to object to a proposed mine in the Land Court on broad grounds including environmental impacts and public interestClause 92Reinstates the Land Court's ability to consider matters from any party on broad grounds including potential adverse environmental impacts, public right and interest, and conformity to sound land use management.
•Public notification of mining lease applications is retained, including newspaper notices, so communities know when a mine is proposed in their areaClauses 74-77Repeals MERCP Act provisions that would have replaced public notification with direct notification to affected persons only.
•Environmental authority applications for mines must still go through the public notification and objection processClauses 74-81Removes changes that would have limited notification and submissions on environmental authorities associated with mining tenure applications.

Regional Queensland

•Farmers get new protections with principal stockyards, dams, bores and artesian wells now counted as 'restricted land' that miners can't enter without written consentClause 7Amends section 68 to include land within 50 metres of an artesian well, bore, dam, water storage facility or principal stockyard as restricted land.
•The Minister can no longer force a mining lease over your land if you haven't agreed to compensationClauses 94 and 9Removes amendments that would have allowed the Minister to grant a mining lease over restricted land where compensation had not been agreed, and omits the provision that removed consent requirements for prescribed activities.
•If a miner enters your property just to mark out a proposed mining boundary, they must give you notice, can't enter restricted land without your consent, and must pay for any damageClause 101 (new s 386V, 386X)Creates a regulatory framework for entry to identify mining boundaries, imposing entry conditions, prohibiting entry to restricted land without consent, and making the person liable to compensate for damage, injury or loss.
•The 200-metre buffer around homes, schools, hospitals and childcare centres, and the 50-metre buffer around farm infrastructure, is now locked into the primary Act rather than changeable by regulationClause 7Enshrines restricted land distances in section 68 of the MERCP Act rather than leaving them to subordinate legislation.

Justice & Rights

•Any person can object to a mining lease application in the Land Court, not just directly affected landholdersClause 90Repeals the MERCP Act amendments that would have limited standing to lodge objections to a mining lease application.
•The Land Court gets jurisdiction to hear disputes about miners entering your land to mark out proposed mine boundaries, and you can appeal decisions of the chief executiveClause 101 (new s 386Y) and Clause 100Creates appeal rights to the Land Court for persons aggrieved by the chief executive's decision to withdraw authority to enter land or impose a penalty of up to 5 penalty units.
•Arbitrators resolving disputes between coal and gas companies must use objective criteria and remain subject to Supreme Court review for jurisdictional errorClauses 56 and 57Amends section 178 to require objective decision-making and clarifies that section 182 does not limit the Supreme Court's power to review an arbitrator's decision for jurisdictional error.

Bill Journey

Introduced23 Feb 2016

First Reading

Committee

Committee Report10 May 2016

Committee report tabled

Second Reading

In Detail

Third Reading

Royal Assent14 June 2016

Referenced Entities

Sectors Affected

Agriculture Land Management Courts Coal Mining Petroleum and Gas

Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards

Mineral and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Plain English Summary

Overview

Who it affects

Key changes

Bill Journey

Referenced Entities

Legislation

Organisations

Roles & Offices

Sectors Affected

Source Documents