‘Echoes of Joh’ as sole authority awarded on mine approvals

THE Queensland government’s hand-picked co-ordinator general will have sole authority over major mining projects.

Minister for Natural Resources Andrew Cripps during Question Time at Parliament. Pic Darren England.

THE Queensland government’s hand-picked co-ordinator general will have sole authority over major mining projects after last-minute amendments stripped the public’s right to challenge his decisions in court.

The amendments, rushed through state parliament in a midnight sitting this week, have been denounced by environment groups. Campaigner and former Greens candidate Drew Hutton said it was “worse than anything done by (former premier) Joh Bjelke Petersen’’.

Mines Minister Andrew Cripps has defended the new provisions of the Minerals and Energy Resource Act, designed to streamline approvals. “The general public can appeal to the Land Court for a medium to large-size mine that has applied for an Environmental Authority,’’ he said.

“Where a project has already gone through the co-ordinator-general’s thorough EIS process, the public has had their say. Any conditions directed by the co-ordinator-general to be placed on the EA are not subject to objection rights in the Land Court.’’

Environment groups said the amendments would give open slather for Adani’s development of the Galilee Basin into one of the largest coal precincts in the world. Mr Cripps said the laws were not retrospective and would not apply to Adani’s current lease applications. But the new rules would cover all major mines and any other projects called in by the state ­co-ordinator general.

Opposition environment spokeswoman Jackie Trad said the laws would thwart any environmental challenge in court to a uranium mine, after the Newman government lifted the decades-long ban on uranium mining in Queensland.

“If there is an application for a uranium mine, it would be a co-ordinated project and any objections would not be aired or considered in court,’’ she said.

Legal action to slow and stop developments has become a key weapon for environment groups nationwide. In Queensland, approvals to dump dredge spoils from expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal had been mired in legal action before the state announced this week it had found an onshore disposal site.

Queensland Resources Council chief Michael Roche said the amendments “reduce unnecessary duplication”.

Mr Hutton said the amendment contradicted claims by Mr Cripps that major projects would still be open to challenge.

He said it was “one of the most underhand and undemocratic moves that Queensland parliament has ever witnessed”.