Coal Mining Safety and Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
On the 12th of October there was Legislation tabled in Queensland Parliament by Resources Minister Scott Stewart with what will be the legislated mandated employment relationship options between the Coal Mine Operator and the following Statutory Positions.
- Site Senior Executive (SSE)
- Open Cut Examiner (OCE)
- Underground Mine Manager (UMM)
- Ventilation Officer (VO)
- ERZC (Mine Deputy)
- Electrical Engineering Manager
- Mechanical Engineering Manager
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/bill.first/bill-2022-021
Written Submissions close on the 21st of October so anyone interested has 7 whole days to make a written submission
This draft wording the way it reads to me and others, is going to explicitly permit one of the main reasons the legislation about employment of Statutory Officials was introduced. That is the Operator not directly employing Statutory Officials
That is Statutory Officials being employed by a contractor company while having a major mining house being the holder of the lease and the Operator and SSE.
Again it appears that Professor Quinlan’s observations apply.
Even when regulatory change is successfully introduced powerful interest groups often seek to influence its implementation, to lobby their political representatives to reverse legislation or undermine its enforcement, or to refashion the laws years later when the heat has gone out of the debate
If it is enacted as is, it will become a complete and utter U-turn; and just make the Legislation a see through charade, or even a complete con job.
Obviously the Government and RSHQ have secretly changed their stated position from 2020.
The position of the ALP State Government was stated in these relevant extracts from Report No. 46, 56th Parliament State Development, Natural Resources and Agricultural Industry Development Committee March 2020.
https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableOffice/TabledPapers/2020/5620T472.pdf
In response to matters raised by stakeholders in relation to the provisions in the Bill requiring statutory office holders to be employees of the mine operator, DNRME stated:
… it is a matter of government policy to require that statutory office holders are employees of a mine operator. There will be a twelve-month transitional period before statutory officer holders will be required to be an employee of a mine operator. The intent is to ensure that statutory office holders can make safety complaints and raise safety issues without fear of reprisal or impact on their employment.[1]
[1] Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, correspondence dated 6 March 2020, p 34.
The link to the Transport and Resource Committee and most of the content is below
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-Committees/Committees/Committee-Details?cid=173&id=4200
ABOUT THE BILL
On 12 October 2022, the Minister for Resources introduced the Coal Mining Safety and Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Transport and Resources Committee for detailed consideration.
The principal objectives of the Bill relate to two Queensland Government priorities:
- Safety and health – to provide for exceptions to direct employment requirements for coal mining statutory positions; and
- Resources – to enable implementation of a key action in the draft Queensland Resources Industry Development Plan (QRIDP), as well as several housekeeping amendments to a number of Acts in the Resources portfolio to address operational issues and correct clerical errors.
Safety and health
A key objective of the Bill is to provide for some exceptions to direct employment requirements under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (the CMSH Act) for coal mining statutory positions which come into effect on 25 November 2022, when the transitional period ends. The direct employment requirements commenced on 25 May 2020 and require that a person must be an employee of the operator of a coal mine to be appointed to a safety critical statutory position at the coal mine. The impacted statutory positions required to be directly employed by the coal mine operator are:
- for all coal mines ⎯ site senior executive (SSE)
- for surface mines only ⎯ open-cut examiner (OCE)
- for underground mines only ⎯ underground mine manager (UMM), ventilation officer (VO), explosion risk zone (ERZ) controller, electrical engineering manager and mechanical engineering manager.
Since the direct employment amendments were passed, challenges to implementing these requirements have arisen relating to corporate and operational structures, unplanned short-term absences, economic viability for low-risk operations (exploration activities) and situations where a contractor is substantially responsible for the mine operations. Coal mining industry representatives have stated the requirements, if not amended, would have the potential to impact its ability to consistently supply coal and, as a result, would affect the financial viability and sustainability of their businesses.
The exceptions to direct employment requirements included in the Bill are needed to ensure coal mining industry companies have practical ways of implementing the direct employment requirements that do not unreasonably disrupt their current corporate structures and employment arrangements.
Resources
The Bill also proposes the following amendments to the Resources Acts:
- Amend the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (MRA) to implement a framework to defer rent for specific critical minerals mining leases.
- Amend the compliance provisions to remove the requirement for resource authority holder agreement to a monetary penalty for non-compliance under the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (P&G Act) Act, the Geothermal Energy Act 2010 (GE Act), and the Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2009 (GHG Act).
- Minor amendments to reflect the consequential renumbering of provisions in the GE Act and the GHG Act and to correct a provision heading and an error in the Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The committee invites submissions addressing any aspect of the Coal Mining Safety and Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022, from all interested parties. Guidelines for making a submission to a parliamentary committee are available here: Guide to making a submission. Please ensure your submission meets these requirements.
The closing date for written submissions is 3:00 pm, Friday, 21 October 2022.
