Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has blocked approval for a $1 billion mining project at Regis McPhillamy's goldmine near Blayney NSW by making a declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth). It has been reported that the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council responsible for the area in question did not oppose the project and believed any possible impacts on heritage items would have been manageable.
Despite Minister Plibersek's claim that the declaration would not stop the project, according to a statement released by Regis Resources today, the project is now unviable due to the declaration. The statement further claims that Minister Plibersek was well aware that this would be the outcome of any section 10 declaration she might make.
Shadow Environment Minister and Tasmanian Senator Jono Duniam said "the Albanese Government is the most anti-jobs, anti-development government Australia has ever had."
"In a cost of living crisis, the last thing we need is for a government to ignore clear advice and unilaterally scrap a project like this, sabotaging hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for the State Government."
"In making this decision, Ms Plibersek is continuing her outrageous approach of stalling and rejecting multiple projects that have already passed stringent state laws. What's the use in state laws when a Federal Government Minister can continually override them on a whim?"
"People wonder why you can't get anything approved in Australia. Well, this is the exact reason. It's green tape gone mad because of the Labor Government."
Shadow Minister for Resources, Senator Susan McDonald said Labor's decision encouraged anti-mining activists to use cultural considerations for their own purposes.
"Genuine cultural concerns are being weaponised to further anti-mining interests which does nothing to help Aboriginal people, depriving them of royalties and involvement in the decision-making process," she said.
"We've seen this with Santos's Barossa gas pipeline and the Jabiluka uranium lease in the Northern Territory."
"Activists are doing Labor's dirty work of stopping mining and this is being noticed around the world as mining companies look to invest in other countries. The current approvals process is broken and has been hijacked by interests seeking to secure inner-city Greens preferences."
"A Coalition Government will halve approval times for new projects and defund the Environmental Defenders Office."
"This is a 'death by stealth' approach, where the Government can claim they aren't targeting mining directly."
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Senator Nampijinpa Price believed the decision was ironic in light of Anthony Albanese's push for Indigenous economic development at the recent Garma festival.
"This is a perfect example of Indigenous Australians wanting to develop their land and utilise all that it has to offer, but the Albanese government explicitly stopping them from doing so. Far too regularly we are seeing the desire of traditional owners to become economically independent on their land being stymied in the name of activist ideology."
Senator Nampijinpa Price also said the decision also illustrates the long-standing issue of the unreliable nature of the scheme governing Indigenous land in Australia which hinders local and international investment in projects that could bring significant employment and economic benefits to Indigenous people.
"We cannot hope to encourage Indigenous economic independence while at the same time allowing a Minister to block projects at the eleventh hour which have otherwise been through due process on the basis of a small number of objections. To do so poses a serious threat to economic development for Indigenous Australians," said Senator Nampijinpa Price.
