Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That obviously falls very well short of what we are proposing today, but it is a relief to hear that at least that thought has occurred to the minister. And the office which we have in place—lest I be accused of perhaps being a little bit too cheerful about its operations—did not prevent and has done very little to make proposals for remediation of a various serious leak out from underneath this alleged world’s best practice uranium mine, so there is obviously still a long way to go as far as the way the Office of the Supervising Scientist operates. However, at least it is part of a model. I move Greens amendment (2) on sheet 5797:

(2)    Page 12 (after line 19), at the end of the bill, add:

23  Accountability

        (1)    Despite any other law, any agreement between the Commonwealth or the Northern Territory (or both) and another party or parties allowing mining operations on land in the Northern Territory to obtain any designated substance must be made subject to the conditions specified in subsection (2).

        (2)    The conditions specified by this subsection are that the other party or parties to the agreement agree to cooperate fully with any requirement:

             (a)    of the Auditor-General, undertaking any of his or her functions under this Act, including by providing full access to all financial and administrative records; and

             (b)    of the Supervising Scientist, undertaking any of his or her functions under this Act, including by providing full access to all mining, processing, transport and related operations, and to all related sites.

24  Auditor General’s functions

        (1)    The Auditor-General’s functions include the functions set out in this section.

        (2)    The Auditor-General’s functions include auditing:

             (a)    the arrangements for the calculation, payment and collection of any amount payable under this Act or under any applied law or corresponding law;

             (b)    the adequacy of the remediation fund established by section 20 to meet its objectives;

             (c)    the adequacy of contributions to the remediation fund.

        (3)    In performing these functions the Auditor-General:

             (a)    may perform or exercise any of the functions and powers conferred upon him or her by the Auditor-General Act 1997; and

             (b)    may seek, and must be granted, access to all financial and administrative records of any party to any agreement relating to mining operations to which this Act applies.

        (4)    As soon as practicable after completing any report on any audit performed under this Act, the Auditor-General must:

             (a)    cause a copy to be tabled in each House of the Parliament;

             (b)    give a copy to the responsible Minister;

             (c)    give a copy to the responsible Northern Territory Minister;

             (d)    give a copy to any Land Council which is a party to any arrangement to receive any royalty under this Act.

25  Supervising Scientist’s functions

        (1)    The Supervising Scientist’s powers and functions are expanded as set out in this section.

        (2)    To the extent that, under the Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Act 1978, the powers and functions of the Supervising Scientist are constrained by reference to a particular geographic region, those powers and functions are expanded so that the Supervising Scientist may perform and exercise any of those functions and powers in relation to:

             (a)    any mining operation to which this Act applies; and

             (b)    any region affected by any such mining operation.

        (3)    In performing these functions the Supervising Scientist may seek, and must be granted, access to all mining, processing, storage, transport and related operations, and all related sites under the control of any party to any agreement relating to any mining operation to which this Act applies.

        (4)    The Supervising Scientist may report to the Minister on any matter relating to any mining operation to which this Act applies, including:

             (a)    supervision, inspection and audit of operations and sites; and

             (b)    radiological, biological and chemical monitoring of sites; and

             (c)    rehabilitation and mine closure; and

             (d)    research activities;

in relation to both present and past uranium mining activities.

        (5)    As soon as practicable after the Minister is given a report made under subsection (4), the Minister must:

             (a)    cause a copy to be laid before each House of the Parliament;

             (b)    give a copy to the responsible Northern Territory Minister;

             (c)    give a copy to the any Land Council which is a party to any arrangement to receive any royalty under this Act.

Question negatived.

Progress reported.