19 August 2024
Topics: Labor’s chilling decision to block the Regis goldmine in regional NSW
E&OE
Andrew Bolt:
Joining us is the Opposition’s Environment spokesman Senator Jonathon Duniam. Senator, what a pleasure to see you again. Tanya Plibersek says this mines dam is in some sort of sacred heritage site and can’t go ahead. She can’t tell us why; secret business. Should it go ahead?
Senator Duniam:
Well, honestly, we’ve got an economy that’s tanking. We’ve got Australians struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. I would have thought any project that brings in extra revenue, hundreds of millions of dollars every year and 800 jobs for locals to have, then it should go ahead. The spurious reasons that have been given, the secrecy around this, does beg the question. The fact of the matter is, balance is lacking from the Minister’s decision making here and I really do think we need to have a closer look and perhaps get the Minister to reconsider. It’s not the right decision for our country and certainly a bad one for our economy and Australians who depend on these jobs.
Andrew Bolt:
Well, it’s going to be a lot of cynicism about this. I mean, this is not the first time. You saw, of course, the gas development in NT where the where a judge ruled that someone was selling porkies, you know, stretching the truth about sacred sites, etc. This Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council says the dam is fine. The other group, the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation; wow what a name, they’ll keep printers in ink, says sacred songlines run through the site. I’m not saying they’re wrong about this or fraud or whatever. I’m just saying there’s a huge difference here and these sacred songlines apparently weren’t known to NSW Environment and Heritage officials. Now, even if that’s true though, I don’t know if anyone seriously believes in songlines anymore or is this a good reason really to kill a mine?
Senator Duniam:
No. Look, I don’t think it is. Again, it comes back to balance. As you say, the project had every single state and federal environmental approval. The local, the Orange Aboriginal Land Council backed it in, and they are a group that are recognised as the respected experts in this field. We don’t know the basis of the claim. What’s more, under this Act, applications like this group the Wiradyuri people have made, can be made orally. So how you can make an assessment on an oral application, I don’t know. I do know the government in trying to deflect from a decision which is going to cost the economy hundreds of millions every year and Australians 800 jobs, tried to point to a decision Sussan Ley made in 2021. Now, that was a decision to knock on the head a go-kart track in Bathurst Regional Councils’ area, which was so poorly handled and it was off the back of a petition with 10,000 signatures on it. Frankly, there is no comparison between the decision we made, which was about a go-kart track, and Labor’s decision to shut down a mine, which would have brought a billion dollars in and created 800 jobs. Frankly, it seems like a furphy, and as I say, I think there’ll be more to say this week about challenging this decision.
Andrew Bolt:
Look, I would have thought that as soon as you’d be told about secret business, you know, your sensors should be on alert after the Hindmarsh Secret Women’s Business, of course. That fiasco. Really, this is the 21st century. I don’t know that we should be, you know, indulging in this sort of thing. If these were really genuine sacred sites, I would have thought it’d been known to people around the country or around that part of the country. You know, I just do. For it to pop up now, wow. Now, Plibersek though, is still working on a so-called nature positive plan that’s going to have even tougher Aboriginal heritage laws. Given something like this, do we need them?
Senator Duniam:
I got to tell you, these laws that are being dreamt up in a smoke-filled room somewhere deep in the bowels of Parliament house, I think if today’s decision or the decision around this Regis gold mine is anything to go by then anything this government dreams up with regard to laws around environmental approvals is going to be bad for the economy. Today I asked a question in the Senate about this project and the response I got pointed to the fact that we need these laws to protect the environment. Well, we need these laws to actually facilitate investment, to be competitive. When you’ve got major investors who make decisions about whether they are going to plant a billion dollars worth of investment in Australia or in Papua New Guinea, they’re looking at other countries, developing countries and saying, well, there’s less sovereign risk there than there is in Australia. That is a concern. And I don’t think anything this government dreams up by way of legislation is in any way going to improve that situation. So no, I don’t think what Tanya Plibersek’s bringing forward is going to be good. It won’t make the situation better here. It’ll in fact I expect make it worse.
Andrew Bolt:
I think a lot of Aboriginal groups have got to recognise that if we want to keep the welfare state up, of which Aborigines are also the beneficiaries, then that’s got to be funded somehow and most of our money seems to be coming from royalties and developments in minerals etc, and the banning them all….
Senator Duniam:
…Spot on….
Andrew Bolt:
…well, I wouldn’t mind if it came with the, you know, sort of a pro rata cut in benefits, but, no. Jonathon Duniam, Senator Duniam, thank you so much indeed for your time.