REGIONAL
FOREST AGREEMENTS - A SUCCESSFUL MODEL FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY
MANAGEMENT?
DREW HUTTON
ABSTRACT:
This article presents an outline
of the legislative framework governing mining in Queensland. It
discusses the process of development and reform of mining legislation,
including the Mineral Resources Act 1989‚ and the development
of an Environment Protection Policy for Mining from 1995 to the
present. The implications of the various ‘special agreement’
Acts for particular minerals and energy projects are reviewed. The
article proceeds to canvass the record of non-enforcement of environmental
protection aspects of mining legislation which were made public
by the action of ‘whistleblowers’. It is argued that official
responses to the revelations of regulatory failure were inadequate
and what followed was in fact a long, drawn-out maintenance of the
status quo as public consultation mechanisms were sabotaged and
public accountability mechanisms failed. The interface of politics‚
policy and practice is also explored. Finally, the article comments
on more recent developments with the consensus-based process involving
a range of stakeholders to develop a comprehensive statutory Environment
Protection Policy for Mining.
