While AAP reported this as news yesterday with the story carried by various News Corp press, the underway review was in fact an election commitment by the Annastacia Palaszczuk-led Queensland Labor Party which won the January 31 election.
“The review is nothing new and has been in the public domain since the election – including the agreement between the Speaker Mr [Peter] Wellington and the Premier Palaszczuk to review the approval process,” New Hope said.
A spokeswoman for Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham told ICN that there was no specific deadline for when this review would end either.
New Hope’s Acland coal mine expansion received Queensland government environmental approval on December 19.
While New Hope’s past political donations to the Liberal National Party were subsequently targeted in the election campaign, the approval was for a revised application that reduced targeted output from up to 10 million tonnes per annum to 7.5Mtpa.
This reduced the proposed mine life from 2042 to 2029.
