NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said over the last six years, the sector had been subject to a large number of wide-ranging regulatory changes.

“[They’ve been] across many portfolios, with significant new compliance costs, as well as a number of new fees and levies or increases in existing levies,” he said.

“To avoid reform fatigue we need to take time to assess the impact of these changes to determine their effectiveness. We are therefore calling for a moratorium on any new regulatory impositions on the sector for 12 months.”

The NSW Minerals Council also called on the government to address the imbalance between funding for infrastructure in Sydney and regional mining communities. 

”The mining regions of NSW deliver significant economic benefits to NSW and deserve greater support,” Mr Galilee said.

“Resources for Regions is an important initiative that provides welcome funding to regional mining communities that contribute so much to the NSW economy.

“The NSW Minerals Council has been a strong supporter of the program, but we remain concerned at the uncertain nature of the funding model, which has meant no new funding for the program for the last two years.”  

“On behalf of mining communities, we’re calling on the State Government to address this in the June Budget and commit at least $60 million per year to the Resources for Regions program,” Mr Galilee said.

The NSW Minerals Council submission calls for more government support for minerals exploration.

“The exploration activity of today is needed to find the mines of tomorrow that will provide the jobs and investment so badly needed across regional NSW,” Mr Galilee said.

“But with exploration spending in NSW down, there’s a real risk that when our current mines cease operating there will be nothing to replace them, with devastating results for jobs in regional NSW.”

“Other states have identified this risk and are taking steps to support exploration, and the NSW Government must do the same. This includes delivering their promised ‘hassle free’ regulatory framework to help secure the future of the regional NSW economy.

“It also means continuing the $2 million per annum New Frontiers Cooperative Drilling program, and for the Government to deliver on the commitment it made in response to the 2014 Minerals Industry Action Plan that a long term strategy for minerals exploration would be developed.”