Approvals Process and Flowcharts

Overview

The resources sector in Queensland is underpinned by a comprehensive regulatory framework to ensure sustainable development and use of our commodities whilst safeguarding the environment for the future.

QRC works with governments, industry and other stakeholders to achieve appropriate and effective policy, laws, regulations and procedures that facilitate the sector’s contribution to sustainable development.

The QRC advocates a robust yet streamlined approval process for all resource projects. QRC advocates for reasonable and responsible regulatory outcomes that assesses projects on their merits – including environmental, social, cultural and economic values and is based in sound science and data.

QRC plays a key role in representing and providing a whole of industry voice on Queensland environmental matters that affect the resources sector, in particular when proposed legislation is introduced to State Parliament. When proposed legislation is introduced at a Commonwealth Government level, QRC often joins with the Minerals Council of Australia and other industry representative bodies across jurisdictions to provide a collective position on environmental matters that affect the resources sector.

QRC continues to advocate that government provides the right balance of review mechanisms for project and operational approvals that provide a dissatisfied individual or project proponent with the right to a sensible review process that is resolved on science and data without causing unreasonable delay that is not in the best interests of any stakeholder. The post-approval process is now the most complex and uncertain aspect of the approval process for a new resource development in Queensland.

Resource Project Approval Flowcharts

Queensland’s different approval pathways for resources are complex, lengthy and sometimes overlap and duplicate similar Federal processes.

A series of 13 flowcharts have been created to visualise and understand the complexity of these processes. These flowcharts can be found below.

Streamlining these processes

It is testament to the complexity of the mining and petroleum project assessment process, that a streamlining reform process has been underway for over a decade in Queensland. This reform agenda was initiated in 2009 by the ‘Streamlining Approvals Project: mining and petroleum tenures approval process’ report (‘the Streamlining Report’) and continues in 2020 through QRC’s Streamlining Report.

The report focuses on the improvement of assessment processes, identifying areas that are duplicative or unnecessarily complex. Inefficient processes have significant impacts on the investment profile of Queensland, as they increase the cost of doing business and can create an uncertain operating environment. For governments, the impacts are unnecessary costs, consuming scarce resources that could be deployed more effectively elsewhere in the public sector. Industry has participated in a number of reform processes over the last decade with varying degrees of success (recommendations partially actioned or not fully implemented as intended).

In its latest reiteration of the Streamlining Report, QRC sought a commitment from government to a timely response to these issues and also to the proposed solutions outlined in the report.