Blayney blame game: Who is at fault for the NSW gold mine debacle?

State and federal Labor governments are embroiled in a heated blame game over who is responsible for the controversial decision to stall a gold mine in regional NSW.

An extraordinary blame game has erupted between Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and her NSW counterpart Penny Sharpe over the decision to block a $1 billion gold mine near Orange.

The finger-pointing has emerged after a trove of documents revealed Ms Plibersek initially wrote to the wrong people when seeking state government “consultation” on whether to slap an Indigenous protection order on the McPhillamys mine in Blayney.

Ms Plibersek then relied on incomplete advice, sent by her NSW counterpart, in making the protection order.

It can also be revealed that Ms Plibersek’s decision came as a direct result of an application for “emergency protection” made by Indigenous artist Nyree Reynolds and the “Wiradyuri traditional owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation” in November last year.

On December 11, Ms Plibersek wrote to three NSW ministers seeking state government “consultation”: Ms Sharpe, Natural Resources Minister Courtney Houssos, and Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Harris. She noted that Ms Reynolds had initially applied in 2020 seeking protection for an area of the Belubula river.

Federal Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Ms Plibersek said she had “not yet decided” on whether to approve the application, and sought the NSW government’s views on whether state legislation gave “effective protection” to the area – giving the NSW government a week to respond.

Federal law requires the minister to consult with the “appropriate” state minister before making a protection order; in this case, that was Planning Minister Paul Scully.

On December 18, Ms Sharpe told her federal counterpart that the mine had been subject to ongoing heritage assessment, and that it had been approved.

However, she said that under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, “intangible Aboriginal cultural heritage values” were not protected. That advice failed to take into account other legislation which does consider “intangible” heritage.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Eight months later, on August 5, Mr Scully wrote back to Ms Plibersek to provide “supplementary advice”.

He said the project had been considered and approved as a “State Significant Development”, which included an assessment of “tangible and intangible Aboriginal cultural values”.

That correspondence, which came only after NSW bureaucrats realised Mr Scully should have been consulted, appears to have been ignored.

Ms Plibersek announced that she had issued an Indigenous heritage protection declaration 11 days later, on August 16.

Planning Minister Paul Scully took eight months to respond. Picture: Nikki Short

The decision effectively blocked the mine from going ahead, despite the Local Aboriginal Land Council responsible for that area declaring they had no issues with the mine.

“The formal advice from the New South Wales Government was that the site did not have relevant heritage protections under state law,” a spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek said.

NSW Nationals MP Sam Farraway accused Ms Plibersek of making the decision “without even consulting the correct minister in NSW, which shows her complete lack of regard for the situation”.

“It’s also extremely disappointing that the relevant minister, Paul Scully, took eight months to respond, and it’s very clear this has not been a priority for either level of government,” he said.

Federal coalition environment spokesman Jonno Duniam said he wanted all NSW Senators to support the Coalition’s private members bill to “overturn this disastrous decision”.

“That the Environment Minister wrote to nearly every New South Wales Minister bar the one primarily responsible also speaks to an ineptitude that everyone should find very worrying,” he said.

A NSW government spokesman said the mine complied with Aboriginal heritage protections.

“Both Minister Sharpe and Minister Scully informed Minister Plibersek that the Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment considered the cultural value of Aboriginal objects and places, and that they could be appropriately managed under the consent conditions applied to the project,” the spokesman said.

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Originally published as Blayney blame game: Who is at fault for the NSW gold mine debacle?