Nat Barr has grilled Tanya Plibersek over her decision to issue an Indigenous heritage protection order over a proposed $1billion gold mine in New South Wales.
Regis Resources, the company behind the project, near Blayney, in central western NSW, insists it could take a decade to get it back on track.
The Environment Minister had issued the protection order rejecting the proposed site of a tailings dam at the mine in mid-August.
The Wiradjuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation asked the minister to protect the headwaters and the springs of the Belubula River as a site central to creation stories.
That’s despite the NSW Independent Planning Commission originally approving the mine in March 2023, a process that involved consultation with the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, the elected body for local Indigenous leaders.
Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council representative Roy Ah-See said Ms Plibersek’s decision undermined the recognised authority of the council.
‘Not all Aboriginal people are about environmentalists, we’re about economic empowerment for our people,’ Mr Ah-See said.
‘Our kids want to be a part of the economic base for future generations.’
A war of words broke out on Sunrise on Monday morning after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek issued an Indigenous heritage protection order over a proposed $1billion gold mine in New South Wales
The issue was brought up on Sunrise on Monday morning where former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce slammed Ms Plibersek’s decision to issue the order as ‘nonsensical’.
‘The company warned the government in June that a decision like this would end the project. They advised you not to make this order that the tailings dam could not be put in that spot. Why did you ignore that advice?’ Barr asked Ms Plibersek.
Ms Plibersek hit back:‘It is a 2,500 hectare site and I said that they can’t put a waste dump on 400 hectares of the site,’ Ms Plibersek said.
‘The company said to us that they have looked at four different sites and 30 different designs for the tailings dam and I’m sure if there is $7billion worth of gold in the ground as they said, it is in their interests to find a new spot for the tailings dam.’
Barr noted the NSW Environment Protection Authority said the impact on the Belubula River would be ‘minimal’.
‘Three of the four other sites are in the declare area that you are talking about according to the company. The fourth site would apparently have more impact than this site.
‘So where are you suggesting that the tailings dam could be?’ the Sunrise host asked.
Ms Plibersek then said it was not up to her to design the project.
‘The company said it would be five to ten more years to get a site through,’ Barr said.
‘That’s nonsense,’ Ms Plibersek interrupted.
‘I have doubled on time approvals since coming to government. Just recently I approved a project in nine weeks because it was in the right location and had the right environmental protections and we can do it quickly if the project is designed properly.’
Regis Resources, the company behind the project, near Blayney, in central western NSW, insists it could take a decade to get it back on track
Earlier in the interview, Mr Joyce had blasted Ms Plibersek over the halting of the goldmine.
‘You can’t have this arbitrary blocking of issues that put the threat of economic prosperity of our nation as it happened in Blayney with the goldmine,’ he said.
‘Once you have an arbitrary decision that doesn’t make sense, that is nonsensical, that doesn’t stack up it and it seems like it was plucked out of the thin air for the benefit of a pressure group rather than benefit of the local community.’
Regis chief executive Jim Beyer earlier said the order rendered the project unviable because the alternative sites for the tailings dam also fell under the exclusion area.
‘We’ve got quite a task ahead of us to understand what the alternative is to the tailings facility,’ Mr Beyer told reporters in Orange last week.
It would take years to complete the necessary geotechnical drilling and environmental surveys to identify a new location, he said.
‘Right now we’re not exactly sure what direction we can take,’ he said.
‘We will look at it because it’s a project worth pursuing, but we just don’t know how long. It could be five to 10 years.’
Regis executives have met with several NSW government ministers to consider potential ways forward.
Premier Chris Minns said the company should be able to ‘get on with it’ and file a new development application without re-starting the lengthy planning process.
‘The planning system in NSW is too complex, too difficult, too long, too many hoops for people to jump through,’ Mr Minns told the conference.
‘We’ve said to the company, ”we don’t want you to start at stage one”.’
