Victoria has fallen behind other states and overseas jurisdictions and should do more to develop its mineral resources and encourage heavy-industry construction and exploration, an inquiry has found.
In a final report now tabled in Parliament, the Victorian Parliament’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee (EDIC) says Victoria’s share of national mineral exploration spending has fallen to just two per cent at a time when the rest of Australia is deriving enormous benefits from the mining boom.
“A successful mining industry laid the foundations for making Victoria the great state it is today,” committee chair and MP for Hastings Neale Burgess says. “While the resources sector is again creating employment and building wealth for communities throughout Australia and around the world, Victorians have been missing out.”
The committee says it received ‘overwhelming’ evidence that regulation of exploration and mining in Victoria is overly complex, has become difficult to navigate and requires simplification.
In total, the EDIC’s report makes 25 recommendations relating to areas such as the industry’s legislative and regulatory framework, finance and taxation arrangements, geoscientific research and education land management and environmental protection.
Of these, key recommendations include making more crown land available for exploration, the introduction of time limits for project approval times and a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to regulation.
The Committee also wants better processes to ensure that communities are consulted about potential coal-seam-gas (CSG) projects in their region.
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