Delay fears for stricter mine safety legislation

TOUGHER mine safety laws could be delayed until after the October state election, Burdekin MP Dale Last has warned.

The Opposition mines spokesman said recommendations from two independent reviews into mine safety would not be debated in parliament until at least July.

It comes after acting Mines Minister Mark Ryan last week said the state’s two independent expert mining safety advisory committees would consider the reports in detail and were expected to provide recommendations for longerterm reforms by Easter.

Mr Last said parliament would go straight into Budget and Estimates sittings after Easter. “So the fact is that any legislation from those recommendations can’t be introduced into parliament until at least July 14,” he said.

“Once the Estimates process takes place there are only four sitting weeks before the parliament is dissolved for the election so, if that legislation needs to go through the committee process, you can guarantee it will be the next parliament dealing with it.”

Last year, Mines Minister Anthony Lynham confirmed the reviews were due back by the end of 2019.

The first report was expected to probe why workers had died over the past 20 years, how industry can improve and how the mines inspectorate can work better. The second was to review mining health and safety legislation.

Mr Ryan said the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy was already acting on the reports.

“The minister made a commitment seven months ago to table the reports in the parliament in the interests of full public transparency,” Mr Ryan said.