14 Mining L egislation Commitee The AMEC Mining L egislation Committee provides advice to the AMEC Council and Ex ecutive on mining legislation issues that may impact on the Association s membership The k ey focus of the Committee during 2018 was through the R esource Industry Consultation Committee RICC This has replaced the Mining Industry Liaison Committee MIL C with the intent of including the petroleum sector The main issues discussed were S trategic issues facing the industry AMEC submitted a P aper for consideration to the inaugural meeting of the W A based RICC It included some details on challenges being faced by the industry and seeking advice on how the S tate Government would be responding to the Federal Government s R esources 2030 T askforce recommendations W e highlighted that land access approvals and timelines across Government continues to be critical issues for the industry Mining L egislation Amendment Bill Cabinet has approved the drafting of the environment related amendments to the W A Mining Act which followed a comprehensive consultation process to reform environmental regulation The Bill is still to be introduced into P arliament but is e xpected to contain several changes which should provide benefts to Government and industry proponents This includes the introduction of a L ow Impact Notifcation process and associated threshold Mining V alidation Bill The W estern A ustralian Government introduced legislation in October 2018 to confrm the validity of mining leases that have purported to be granted and whose validity might be afected by failure to have strictly complied with the requirements of the Mining Act The amending legislation became necessary as a result of the Forrest Forrest Pty L td v Wilson case As such validating legislation may be regarded as a new future act under the Native Title Act notwithstanding that the future act provisions of the Native Title Act were complied with at the time of the original purported grant it appears necessary to also amend the Native Title Act AMEC continues to request urgent passage of relevant legislation to remove any uncertainty Proposed changes to Mining R egulation 169 AMEC is continuing to seek amendment to Mining R egulation 169 to allow non lawyers such as agents tenement managers company employees to represent a P arty before the W arden when the W arden is acting in an administrative capacity Shire rating issues As a direct participant in the R eview of the W A L ocal Government Act AMECs submission included an independent report titled L ocal Government R ating of Mining T enements which included 19 recommendations W e recommended including retention of the Minister s approval regarding diferential rating and reinstatement of the Beneft Principle phasing in the e x emption of prospecting e xploration and retention tenements from local government rating W e drew the Government s attention to the fnancial impacts on industry when tenement rentals are increased and corresponding efect on property valuations for shire rating purposes There is a further compounding efect when local authorities increase their diferential rates by CPI or more Other matters There were a number of other matters discussed by the Committee including Input to the review of the Mining R ehabilitation Fund Follow up on various recommendations from a previous review of the W ardens Court Pro rata refunds Equitable treatment and reduced holding costs in relation to R etention Licence R etention S tatus Calculation of royalties for iron ore sold at the mine gate Survey backlog reporting