Question Without Notice No. 962 asked in the Legislative Council on 6 December 2017 by Hon Robin Chapple
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
962. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the minister representing the Minister for Mines and Petroleum:
I refer to the recent High Court decision in Forrest & Forrest Pty Ltd v Wilson & Ors (2017) HCA 30.
(1) Apart from the new legislation to be drafted to validate mining tenements, and given that the decision casts doubt over the validity of mining leases under section 74(1)(ca) of the Mining Act 1978, has the department undertaken an audit of mining leases to ensure that they remain valid?
(2) If no to (1), does the department intend to do so?
(3) If yes to (2), what is the time frame for the audit?
(4) If no to (1), why not?
(5) If yes to (1), please provide a list of the leases by lease number that have been impacted by the High Court decision.
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question. The Minister for Mines and Petroleum has provided the following answer.
(1)–(2) No.
(3) Not applicable.
(4) An audit of mining leases is not required. The government has already announced that it will urgently draft legislation to validate granted mining tenements.
(5) Not applicable.