The Mining and Petroleum Legislation Amendment (Land Access) Bill 2010 is set to be tabled to the lower house.
“We expect this bill will generate frank and forthright debate in Parliament,” Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald said.
“This is an extremely complex and important issue for NSW.”
While some might champion the underdog farmers who found a legal technicality to remove BHP from their land in the Liverpool Plains, mining companies are now obliged to chase down mortgage providers and even electricity suppliers for access agreements as a result.
Although the state’s Mining Act gives a licence holder exploration rights on private property, the state’s Supreme Court found the legislation also defined a landholder as a registered person “having an interest in the land”
BHP subsequently lost the case because it did not ink access agreements with the banks that provided mortgages over the concerned property.
But Macdonald was also concerned about the impact on the rights of farmers.
“The recent Supreme Court decision effectively denies farmers’ rights to negotiate with exploration companies for access agreements.
“It puts banks, electricity suppliers, Telstra and other utilities on an equal footing with farmers in managing access to their land.
“The state government is determined that farmers have the right to sign confidential agreements with exploration companies, and to validate up to 8000 access agreements already legally in force.
“The Supreme Court decision creates impossibly bureaucratic, lengthy and costly delays between farmers and exploration companies, and also undermines the confidentially of negotiated arrangements.”
Macdonald played it safe by saying the mining and farming sectors were both vital to the state’s economy.
He said the mining industry represented about $22 billion and agriculture accounted for $10 billion of direct value to the state’s economy.
The new amendments, not seen by the state Coalition, could force the Caroona access agreements into the NSW Land and Environment Court, according to the ABC.
