Resource exploration productivity falling

The productivity of Australia's resource exploration industry is falling, according to a draft report - Mineral and Energy Resource Exploration - released by the Productivity Commission.

Operating costs are rising, rates of discovery are falling, and Australia is becoming relatively less attractive to international firms as an exploration destination.

While exploration represents only a small share of the economy, the Commission notes that its importance is in sustaining Australia's much larger resource extraction industry.

The Commonwealth, States and the Northern Territory Governments all regulate exploration.

The community, as the owners of the minerals and energy resources, benefit from exploration, as does the resource industry. But equally, the rights of current landholders, communities and areas of environmental and heritage value need to be safeguarded, the Commission argues.

The Commission's Deputy Chairman, Mike Woods, said 'there are several key areas where regulations can be made less burdensome for explorers while maintaining these important safeguards. In particular, the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments have overlapping and duplicative environmental and Indigenous heritage regimes, but they have it in their power to agree on more efficient accreditation arrangements', Mr Woods said.

The draft report also proposes that the criteria for awarding exploration licences and the outcomes of tender processes should be published; Ministers should be required to give reasons for their decisions regarding exploration licences; and heritage registers should be established, to avoid repetitive heritage surveys.

A focus of several recommendations is to improve the certainty and transparency of the development and administration of regulations. This will benefit all stakeholders - resource explorers, farmers, conservation groups and the wider community.

'There needs to be greater community engagement when governments make land access decisions, but the debate needs to be grounded in sound evidence about the environmental, social and economic impacts of particular exploration activities', Mr Woods said. 'Regulation needs to evolve alongside gains in the scientific knowledge base.'

The Commission noted that Australia is highly regarded internationally for the accessibility and quality of the pre-competitive data provided by its geological survey organisations.

The Commission is seeking responses to this draft report and will be holding public hearings.

• Preliminaries
  • Cover, Copyright, Opportunity for further comment, Terms of reference, Contents, and Abbreviations and explanations
• Overview - including key points
• Draft recommendations
• Chapter 1 About the inquiry
  • 1.1 Background to the inquiry
  • 1.2 What the Commission has been asked to do
  • 1.3 Scope of the inquiry
  • 1.4 Conduct of the inquiry
  • 1.5 Structure of the report
• Chapter 2 The nature of resource exploration and the role of government
  • 2.1 Role and structure of resource exploration
  • 2.2 How the resource explorers operate
  • 2.3 Performance of resource explorers
  • 2.4 Government involvement in the exploration sector
• Chapter 3 Exploration licensing and approvals
  • 3.1 The regulatory framework
  • 3.2 Issues with the allocation of licences
  • 3.3 Issues with regulatory practices
  • 3.4 Concerns with regulator performance
• Chapter 4 Land access issues
  • 4.1 Land access regimes
  • 4.2 National parks and conservation reserves
  • 4.3 Native title and Aboriginal freehold land
  • 4.4 Managing conflict between land uses
  • 4.5 Social licence to operate
• Chapter 5 Heritage protection
  • 5.1 The broad regulatory framework
  • 5.2 Indigenous heritage requirements and processes
  • 5.3 What are the key Indigenous heritage issues?
• Chapter 6 Environmental management
  • 6.1 Potential environmental impacts of exploration
  • 6.2 The regulatory frameworks for managing the environmental impacts of exploration
  • 6.3 Duplication of regulatory agency responsibilities
  • 6.4 Proportionate regulation
  • 6.5 Improving the administration of assessment and approval processes
• Chapter 7 Pre-competitive geoscience information
  • 7.1 Government involvement in pre competitive information
  • 7.2 The quality of Australia's geological database
  • 7.3 Opportunities to improve pre competitive geoscience information
• Chapter 8 Workforce issues
  • 8.1 Skills shortages
  • 8.2 Workplace health and safety
  • 8.3 Workplace relations
• Appendix A Conduct of the inquiry
• References