Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was great to hear the member for Oxley praising the efforts of Councillor Sheila Ireland, a great local representative and someone who does a very good job in her local community. But tonight I want to talk about the future of the New Acland Coal Mine. It's a thing I've spoken about many times. I will continue to keep speaking about it. I'm sure the people of my community have heard me speak about it for a long time now. Unfortunately, they've been haunted with uncertainty around the future of this mine for 14 years. The situation that faces New Acland shouldn't just worry those involved in this mine but also worry the industry more broadly. It's a story about what the lack of state government leadership and disparate approval processes can do to a good project which brings good jobs to a regional area.

To take you back: the New Acland Coal Mine, which is located just outside of Oakey in my electorate of Groom, started operating in 2002. At its peak, it was contributing $110 million annually to the Darling Downs economy and $406 million annually more broadly. It operates on a local workforce, not a fly-in fly-out situation. That's 320 staff who were living and working in the region at the height of production; 320 locals, 320 families, who were provided good, honest employment by this mine. In 2007, the mine applied for approvals for stage 3 of its project. Today it's still waiting for mining leases, 14 years later; still waiting for a water licence 14 years later. These are approvals which the state government have repeatedly said they won't grant until legal action against the mine is finalised. It's unclear how long these proceedings will take. With the matter returning to the Land Court this February, there are estimates a recommendation might not be given until February next year.

Unfortunately, that's simply too late for the workers at that mine. The mine will run out of coal in October of this year. New Hope have tried to hold on to workers for as long as they can—and I thank them for their work with that—but they've already had to make 185 workers redundant, with another 24 due to be made redundant this July. These are workers who live in the community, support small businesses in Oakey, send their kids to the local schools and contribute to the community through sporting clubs and volunteer organisations. At this stage, even if the mine were approved today, we are already in a scenario where these workers would face a time of unemployment before operations could once again ramp-up and their jobs could return. The wind-up of the mine won't only have severe impact on people but also businesses—from the corner shop to Queensland Rail, whose south-west line the mine's business guarantees—as more jobs and revenue are lost.

Throughout all of this, the state government has refused to provide certainty to the mine or to my community, constantly shifting the line of when they'll decide on the final approvals. What the mining industry needs—what any industry needs—is certainty. When it comes to mine approvals, I'm not asking for more yeses; I'm asking for fewer maybes. I'm asking for the Premier to treat all projects equally. Apply the same rules to New Acland as the state government did to Pembroke's Olive Downs coking coal project near Mackay. While Olive Downs is a metallurgical coalmine and New Acland is thermal, what's not different is that both mines are involved in legal proceedings. A judicial review is currently underway for Olive Downs, but they have been granted their leases and they are operating.

In a Queensland parliamentary committee in April, the Queensland Department of Resources director-general revealed, under questioning from the excellent Toowoomba North MP, Trevor Watts, that the difference in treatment was a policy decision. The director-general went on to explain, 'If a mine has a valid recommendation from the Land Court and meets all other prerequisites it can be provided to the minister for a decision,' which is what happened in Olive Downs, as it should have. In 2018, the New Acland Coal Mine did have a Land Court decision and did meet all other prerequisites, but, in the words of a report in the Australian at the time, the state government held off, pre-empting future legal challenges. To be very, very clear, Acland's approvals are not being considered on the merits of their application. This inconsistency of approach is poison to investment, making it impossible for industry to chart a course forward.

Once again, why do we have one rule for one project and another for a different project? The state government needs to apply its processes equally. If a decision can be made, it must not be able to be held up by endless litigation. Again, I'm not asking for more yeses; I'm just asking for fewer maybes. It's time to give Acland a fair go. It's time to give the workers at Acland mine a go. If the Labor Premier won't support mining jobs, then I call on the Leader of the Opposition to support the Acland mine. On behalf of the workers who've lost their job at the hands of Labor's indecision on mining policy, I would genuinely appreciate his support.