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Committee's report

The committee tabled its report on 9 April 2018. The government's response to the committee's report was tabled on 9 July 2018. The Bill was passed with amendments by the Queensland Parliament on 18 October 2018.

About the Bill

On 15 February 2018 the Hon Dr Anthony Lynham, Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy introduced the Mineral, Water and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the State Development, Natural Resources and Agricultural Industry Development Committee for detailed consideration.  

The explanatory notes state that the primary policy objective of the Bill are to:

• give effect to the Queensland Government’s response to four recommendations of the Independent Review of the Gasfields Commission Queensland and Associated Matters;
• remove the automatic referral of compensation matters to the Land Court of Queensland under the Mineral Resources Act 1989;
• ensure the consideration of the water-related effects of climate change on water resources is explicit in the water planning framework;
• provide for the inclusion of cultural outcomes in water plans to support the protection of the cultural values of water resources for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders;
• provide a mechanism to allow for temporary access to unallocated water held in strategic water infrastructure reserves; and
• establish new powers for dealing with urgent water quality issues.

It should be noted that the Mineral, Water and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, was originally referred to the Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources Committee (IPNRC) prior to the dissolution of Parliament for the 2017 election. That bill lapsed when the 55th Parliament was dissolved. The subject Bill is substantially the same as the previous Bill.

The SDNRAIDC will consider all the evidence gathered by the IPNRC for this current inquiry.  See former committee inquiry here.

Timeline