Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. As I sought to explain, this would have a serious impact on the financial arrangements the company is seeking to enter into. If you delay it for that long, it will have an adverse impact. I mentioned that in my comments, but that is up to you to decide. Xxx XXX XXXXXXX: Those are valid points. As I have said, we do not want to do that. I think it could be a very short, sharp inquiry. If there is a date by which this bill needs to be passed through this house, I suspect Hon Xxx Xxxx would be more than willing to negotiate with the government to get the committee report back by a certain date and to agree to pass the bill through the house within that time frame. If that meant the house sitting all night to get it through to make sure that this went ahead, those are the sorts of things that the Labor Party would agree to. Hon Xxx Xxxx has carriage of this bill for the opposition, but they are the sorts of things that we, as a party, would be more than happy to engage in to enable the referral so that we can know and understand the implications of the bill when we take the decision, as the Leader of the House quite rightly pointed out, to either accept or reject this legislation. I think we have made it very clear that our desire is to accept the legislation, but we want to know the implications of doing so. I come back to the point that this is not uncommon. I do not think we have gone anywhere near what members opposite have done in the past. As I said earlier, when in opposition the Leader of the House gave a speech about the Xxxxxx Island state agreement act. He opposed all the major elements of the bill and said that it was too early, that it was unnecessary and that this and that would not work, but then he supported the bill. We have not done any of that. Hon Xxxxxx Xxxxx: That was my opinion, but I was not going to stand in the way of you getting your legislation through. It is a serious sovereign risk issue when Parliament chucks out state agreement acts. You know that and I know that. Xxx XXX XXXXXXX: Hang on.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. Last night we discussed the process that the company needs to go through to get from exploration licences to mining leases. I was left slightly confused and I can understand why I am confused because it is complicated. Is the situation any less confused today? If the Leader of the House is less confused, he might be kind enough to explain again to me the answer to the first question I asked last night. The agreement contains schedules that list exploration licences, exploration licences for which an application is pending, and mining lease applications. The Leader of the House mentioned that the company already has a number of mining leases. Where are they listed? In schedule 1, part A lists the exploration licences and part B lists the exploration licence applications, and schedule 2 lists the mining lease applications. However, I cannot find a list of mining leases that have been granted. Is there any way I can find out those leases? Hon XXX XXXXXX: The reason that the MLs which have been now granted and which at the time of the signing of the agreement were proposed to be granted are not listed in the agreement is that the agreement is dated December 2005. Those 89 MLs that I referred to yesterday were granted in March and April of this year. I am unable to provide the Leader of the Opposition with a list of those MLs now, but I will provide him with it. I cannot provide the list now, although there is a representation of them on a map in front of me, because they are not in a list that is suitable for presentation to Parliament. We could provide the list within the next couple of days. Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: That is fine; I just needed an explanation. There is no need to provide the list within the next couple of days. Hon XXX XXXXXX: To answer the second question first, everything that is listed in the schedule has to go through the Mining Act provisions. The answer to the first question is yes, they were granted under the Mining Act. Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: In relation to the granting of these leases and the intention to proceed through the Mining Act processes to convert the ELs to MLs in due course, do the requirements of native title processes have to be met by the company? Hon XXX XXXXXX: Yes.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. If you don’t want to have this state agreement, just vote against it so that we don’t have to worry about — Xxx XXXXX XXXXXXX: I will be; do not worry! However, we will deal with that when we come to the substance of the bill. I am dealing with the motion at the moment, honourable minister.
Examples of Hon XXXXXX XXXXX in a sentence
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: I am not going to go there, not because I do not have a good argument but I — Xxx Xxx Xxxxxxx: Because you don’t! Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: Actually, I do.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: This is a very interesting debate that we should have regularly, because we have all been arguing since the first state agreement acts on iron ore that Western Australia needs a steel industry.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: I am advised that it relates to medical research and support of the Indigenous communities of the Shire of Roebourne, so that the funds are for medical research related to Indigenous issues.
The project will generate $75 billion of export income; $3.5 billion in capital expenditure; $3.3 billion in royalties; $31 million in stamp duty; 2 500 construction jobs; 500 or 600 permanent jobs, I am not sure which — Xxx Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx: It might be 500 or 600! Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: It might be 500, 600 or even 900 permanent jobs.
My question was about which components of any contract would be Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: Sino Iron is one of the co-proponents of this contract.
More Definitions of Hon XXXXXX XXXXX
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. I am trying to work out what the member’s concerns really are. The member did say that he thought we could get a better outcome for the state. I would have thought that this is a pretty good outcome for the state, because the railway line will be built by a private company, at no expense to the state. Xxx Xxx Xxxxxxx: Well, it is a good outcome for the company. Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: It is also a good outcome for the state, because the state will be getting an asset that it will eventually own if it wants to. That is not a bad outcome. The alternative outcome for the state is that the state builds the railway line. Xxx Xxx Xxxxxxx: But there are other models. That is the point I am making.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. In respect to the Leader of the House’s last comment, an attempt has been made in Kalgoorlie to produce some mining machinery, but probably not enough. What has been done in Kalgoorlie is good by world standards. I cannot work out why, for example, Atlas Copco continues to import machinery from Sweden for Australian mining when that machinery could be made here. One of these days somebody may do something about that. Hon Xxx Xxxxxx: Xxxxx and Xxxxx is probably the main reverser of that factor. K&L is an old Australian company. Hon XXXXXX XXXXX: I acknowledge the Leader of the House’s comment on the statement of intent. A company cannot be pinned down to ensuring that every one of its employees comes from Western Australia and every item of equipment it purchases is made in Australia. We cannot do that because it is not practicable. Will the Leader of the House give an indication of how the company is likely to meet these obligations to the extent we would like in view of the existing tight labour market? Hon XXX XXXXXX: If I could do that, I probably would not be the Leader of the House in the Legislative Council of Western Australia handling a xxxx that I know nothing about. I would have a much more exalted position.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. Go and have a good look at the Xxxx, the BHPs, the Fortescues; all of them are, in fact, employing quite a significant number of Aboriginal people and, indeed, setting themselves quite high benchmarks for the percentage of Indigenous employees to be employed. Rio up at Lake Argyle is a significant employer of Aboriginal labour. It is good to see that Aboriginal people are flying in and out of One Arm Point, I think, to Xxxxxx or Xxx Xxxxx—one of those. There are fly in, fly out arrangements between the Xxxxxxxxx and the Pilbara for Aboriginal people who are looking for employment in the mining sector. I therefore believe we should be very pleased with what the mining companies are doing for Aboriginal employment; and they will be doing a whole lot more of that later.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. The government could legislate to provide—we are looking at this—an ability under the Mining Act to create a miscellaneous licence so that that particular licence can be used by companies to build railway lines. The reason for doing that is that a miscellaneous licence sits on top of other tenements and other rights such as native title. It exists while the line is there and if the line is disbanded and removed, all the other rights are retained. If that was in place, this agreement would not have had to come to Parliament. We are seeking to build the railway line under a state agreement act—I will come to the reason we are doing that in a minute—because this is the only vehicle that is available to us to modify existing laws and create the reserve for the line by way of a state agreement act. In the issue of transparency, Parliament gets to see every word of the agreement between the company and the government. I have always thought state agreement acts were a good thing because they tell the public what the government’s contracts are with companies. Without state agreement acts, we could have agreements between governments and companies that the Parliament has no idea about at all.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. Go and read the state agreement. Go and read it! Xxx XXXXX XXXXXXX: I have; I have it in front of me. Hon Xxxxxx Xxxxx: Read the bit about where the company has to consult with any landholder and reach agreement with them. Xxx XXXXX XXXXXXX: They have to consult. That is a lovely word “consult”.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. You actually don’t.
Hon XXXXXX XXXXX. I read the newspapers assiduously every day and listen to the news and I always hear about some Green party opposing every development that is suggested. If we work our way down the coast and