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Articles Queensland Backing Away From Harmonised Safety Mining Laws

Queensland Backing Away From Harmonised Safety Mining Laws

Principal Author / Publisher:Safetyhow Admin
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Queensland has expressed strong doubts about the harmonised mining laws.
Why? Because, the Minister says Qld already has the best laws and the best record -

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps said (NOTE 1) : “Many share the view that Queensland already has the best mine safety legislation in the country.

“Queensland sees the merit of greater consistency across jurisdictions. However, this state will not allow itself to be disadvantaged by adopting model national legislation that lowers the high standards of mine safety that already apply in this State.

“Nor should we be disadvantaged by national legislation that diminishes the quality of mine safety training, or causes additional ongoing costs for Queensland in the regulation of mine safety.”

Mr Cripps said it was important the mining industry had a say in future Queensland mining safety and health legislation. ... “The current attitude of the Newman LNP Government is that we remain unconvinced that the national model legislation is in Queensland’s best interests.

“We will not be changing our legislation for the sake of administrative harmonisation. In Queensland, we put mine safety first.”

THE PAPER

It has issued a discussion paper named: "NATIONALLY CONSISTENT MINE SAFETY LEGISLATION - Queensland's proposal for a nationally consistent legislative framework"

The Executive Summary Says:

"In 2008, the National Mine Safety Framework (NMSF) was included as a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) regulatory reform priority. Most states regulate mine safety under the national Model Work Health and Safety legislation (Model Act) with the major mining states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia developing additional NMSF ‘Non-Core’ provisions suitable for the more extensive mining operations.

The three options considered to implement new mine safety legislation in Queensland are:

• Option 1. Retain the current Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 (collectively the Queensland Acts) for the coal and metalliferous sectors plus NMSF provisions that improve safety and consistency.

• Option 2. Have one single Act for coal and metalliferous sectors plus any NMSF provisions that improve safety and consistency.

• Option 3. Develop mine safety legislation primarily based on the Model Act plus any NMSF provisions that improve safety and consistency.

Queensland is committed to the NMSF process and to achieving greater consistency in mine safety and health legislation with other states, however Queensland has made it clear that it will not accept any lowering of its safety standards. Queensland's commitment to the NMSF is guided by two principles:

1. The new legislation must result in a clear improvement in safety outcomes or, at the very least, no diminution in safety standards within Queensland.

2. The new legislation must not impose any additional cost on either government or industry as a result of its introduction.
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