Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Bill 2018 (Qld)

An Act to establish a financial provisioning scheme to deal with the environmental impacts of resource activities, and to amend this Act, the Environmental Protection Act 1994, the Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014, the Mineral Resources Act 1989, the Right to Information Act 2009 and the Waste Reduction and Recycling Amendment Act 2017 for particular purposes The Parliament of Queensland enacts—

Part 1 Preliminary

Division 1 Introduction

1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Act 2018.

2 Commencement This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

Division 2 Purposes and application of Act

3 Main purposes The main purposes of this Act are— (a) to provide for holders of authorities to pay a contribution to the scheme fund, or give a surety, for the authorities; and (b) to provide a way to manage the risk to the State of incurring costs and expenses if the holder of an authority or small scale mining tenure does not comply with the holder's obligations under the authority or tenure; and (c) to provide a source of funds to the State for costs and expenses relating to preventing or minimising environmental harm, or rehabilitating or restoring the environment, or securing compliance with an authority or small scale mining tenure; and (d) to provide a source of funds to the State for— (i) rehabilitation activities at land on which an abandoned mine exists; and (ii) remediation activities in relation to an abandoned operating plant; and (iii) research that may contribute to the rehabilitation of land on which resource activities have been carried out.

4 How main purposes to be achieved The main purposes are to be achieved by— (a) establishing a financial provisioning scheme to deal with the environmental impacts of resource activities (the scheme), including, for example— (i) a scheme fund; and (ii) a cash surety account; and (b) providing for the appointment of a person to manage the scheme; and (c) providing for the person mentioned in paragraph (b) to make payments from the scheme fund and the cash surety account, enter into surety arrangements, and call on and release sureties.