Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House that the State Government has failed in its obligations to protect local communities from the impacts of mining operations with no consequences. The Queensland Treasury has failed to provide proper reasoning for their decisions when deciding to refund Environmental bonds. RTI documents show concessions the Government made burdened taxpayers with the costs of abandoned mines. The Queensland Government is leaving the mess of defunct mines to be cleaned up by Local Governments due to decisions on bond releases and turning defunct sites into Landfill. Local Governments spend millions of dollars defending policies on environmental impacts which have resulted from decisions to hand back bonds or gift Bonds to toxic waste and land fill operators.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to:

1.  Include affected Local Governments as a joint executor of Rehabilitation Environmental Bonds held in trust by the Queensland Treasury.
2.  Decisions regarding the required value of or the release of any bond or concession must take into consideration the impacts on local Government costs associated with defunct mine and quarry sites.
3.  Decisions to refund Mine Rehabilitation Environmental Bonds must be made by a joint committee of the DES, the affected Local Government and Queensland Treasury.
4.  Applications for refunds or concessions must call for public consultation so the public and interested or affected parties can lodge objections.
5.  All rehabilitations must be in accordance with the original terms of the mining lease and State and Local laws.