Blayney mine chaos not our making, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese has refused to take responsibility for the chaos surrounding the proposed Blayney goldmine despite revelations the company behind it warned the project would be scuttled if blocked on Indigenous heritage grounds.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

Anthony Albanese has refused to take responsibility for the chaos surrounding the proposed Blayney goldmine despite revelations the company behind it directly warning the Prime Minister warned the project would be scuttled if blocked on Indigenous heritage grounds.

The Weekend Australian revealed on Saturday the department’s hand-picked Indigenous cultural assessor advised against Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek slapping a section 10 heritage order on the proposed mine’s tailings facility, with owner Regis Resources telling the government in June such a move would be a death knell for the project.

Speaking in Western Australia on Sunday, the Prime Minister said it was not up to him to verify the company’s analysis, again saying other sites existed for the McPhillamys Gold Project’s tailings facility, a claim raised by Ms Plibersek last week but rejected by Regis chief executive Jim Beyer.

“There’s no impediment to the mine,” Mr Albanese said.

“There’s been a decision by the Environment Minister about the tailings dam, and I hope (Regis) can work through it.

“There’s discussions between the company and the state government, they’re working through (it) … there are other proposed sites for the tailings dam.”

But Regis says the “four sites and 30 options” spruiked by Ms Plibersek and Mr Albanese as alternatives to the blocked site was inaccurate. The Australian revealed how three of the four would also coincide with the declared area, and the fourth was assessed as having the most detrimental impact to the surrounding community, river and environment.

The “30 options” are composed of varying the proposed tailings facility within the four possible sites.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Regis says a totally new site for the tailings facility could take five to 10 years to go through both geotechnical testing and state planning approvals.

Mr Albanese said on Sunday it was not his job to verify the company’s concerns. “The company makes that (time frame) claim, it’s not up to me to verify all the analysis that it has made,” he said.

“I hope the company is prepared to … constructively work through those issues with the state government … that is occurring and that would be a good thing.”

In state budget estimates last week, the NSW Environment Protection Authority watered down the notion the facility would destroy the Belubula River, chief executive officer Tony Chappel saying he was “fairly confident” the tailings dam would not impact the waterway in a material way.

He said the EPA had provided “extensive advice” on the location of the dam Ms Plibersek was now opposing, and confirmed it “determined that environmental risks to receiving waters are minimal and can be effectively managed with standard practices and relevant licensing conditions”.

The specific area of the Belubula River that has since been declared under section 10. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Regis wrote to Mr Albanese in June requesting an “urgent call” to discuss the project following advice from Ms Plibersek that she was poised to declare an effective stop-work order on much of its site under federal law.

Mr Albanese ignored warnings from Regis that the federal government would be overriding NSW planning laws and its own environmental laws by slapping a section 10 order, a rarely used instrument under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Heritage Protection Act, due to Indigenous heritage concerns.

Regis’s letter also advised Mr Albanese that a special assessor appointed by the government under the Act had cautioned Ms Plibersek against making the order against the mine.

Ms Plibersek said she made the section 10 declaration after listening to a Bathurst-based charity with 18 registered members, the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation.

However, the Indigenous body recognised as the cultural authority for the area under state law is the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, which has not objected to the mine proposal.

NSW Resources Minister Courtney Houssos met with Regis last week while Premier Chris Minns has said the government’s decision was the wrong one.