A NSW Upper House committee inquiry examining what happens to land used for mining after resources are exhausted has heard that regulatory obstacles and workforce uncertainty are hampering the future of mining communities. The inquiry into ‘beneficial and productive post-mining land use’ is chaired by Emily Suvaal (Labor) alongside party colleagues as committee members, as well as Sam Farraway and Wes Fang (Nationals) and Sue Higginson (Greens) among others.
The inquiry’s terms of reference include aspects such as the benefits of having multiple successive land uses; changes in land use potential and demand in established or traditional mining areas, particularly those generated by the decarbonised economy, renewable technology, manufacturing and defence; opportunities for investment and growth in training and skills, including the need to reskill and or retrain current workforces; how to ensure the benefit from innovative post mine land uses are shared between the community and mine operators; and the expectations of mining communities in relation to post-mine land use, and how to balance this with innovative reuse of existing infrastructure.
Gunnedah Shire Council said its post-mining land use considerations are aligned with its Economic Development Strategy and the need to diversify industries and employment to be ready for post-mining in the decades ahead.
Its focus would include continued support of agriculture, such as its Gunnedah Regional Saleyards redevelopment, combined with secondary production and value-adding opportunities to complement its planned Gunnedah Intermodal Freight Terminal. Council said a business case has been developed as part of the Inland Rail Interface Improvement Program.
Council also said it is working on agri-tourism to diversify rural incomes and to deliver an ‘Employment Lands Strategy’ which is looking at adequate supply of commercial and industrial land and enabling an environment for micro and small business growth in the shire.
Whitehaven Coal, which operates six mines in the Gunnedah Coal Basin and Queensland’s Bowen Basin, stated in its 2024 Sustainability Report that 40 per cent of land disturbed for mining has been rehabilitated to date.
“Post-mining, land may be returned to its original use, such as agricultural grazing, and/or natural woodland/forest vegetation, or partially developed for alternative industrial or other uses,” the report said.
The company also said 48 per cent of its land (excluding the new Queensland operations), equivalent to 41,250 hectares, is leased to local farmers for agricultural activities such as grazing and cropping.
The NSW Minerals Council – the peak body representing the state’s mining companies – said there is a broad acceptance across government, industry, developers and many local mining communities that the current regulatory framework is not fit for purpose to facilitate alternative post-mine land uses outside of the traditional pasture and conservation land expectations.
The industry group highlighted in its submission that many of the emerging post-mining land uses, such as renewable energy, were not anticipated at the time of approval of most current operational mines.
“Emergence of these new land uses, where post-mining land offers significant advantages, and a greater focus on post-mining transition in some mining regions, makes it vital the NSW Government considers how the regulatory framework can facilitate these opportunities in an effective and timely manner,” the submission said.
Another submission from environmental protection group, Lock the Gate, was focused on reparations owed as a result of mining operations.
“The committee must not forget the debts already incurred: the extinction debt from clearing wildlife habitat, the water debt in altered hydrological regimes, the social debt from the evisceration of rural communities in the buy up of land, and distortion of the labour market, the cultural and land debt to First Nations communities and the inter-generational debt still mounting in the form of escalating global warming,” the Lock the Gate submission stated.
The committee inquiry recently held a public hearing at Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter Valley where, like Gunnedah, much of the post-mining focus has centred around the mining workforce and uncertainty facing the local community.
Muswellbrook Shire Council’s director of community and economy, Shaelee Welchman, told the inquiry: “Our workforce in Muswellbrook is really quite young: Our median age is 37. Most of those people living here have got another 20 or so years left in their working career. The mines and the power stations do a really great job of looking after their existing workforce in transitioning to other employment opportunities, reskilling or redundancies through the closure process. Our concern as council is for the mums and dads—the community that lives here; their kids go to school here; they’re part of our sporting clubs— and about how these businesses, who rely on mining as an industry, will be able to transition to other industries. They need to see now that there are other industries moving into the region and what those opportunities are for our local businesses.” The inquiry continues.
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