7 7 timeliness of the Native Title system AMEC responded with a comprehensive submission aimed at achieving these critically important objectives W e are also seeking to address concerns around authorisation of section 31 agreements and validation of mining leases P otash and Lithium Brine Guidelines AMEC facilitated the drafting of a brine reporting guideline to increase the transparency and certainty of reporting on the A SX The guideline is designed to align with the JORC Code and provide a necessary standard AMEC has submitted it to the A SX A SIC and JORC Committee for consideration A lithium and battery minerals industry in A ustralia AMEC commissioned a report underpinning our advocacy for greater lithium processing and possible battery manufacturing in A ustralia Due to overwhelming interest and support a second report was released in May 2018 which outlines the ne xt steps for S tate and Federal Governments to grasp the battery mineral processing and manufacturing opportunity This advocacy led to the W estern A ustralian S tate Government creating the Lithium and Energy Materials T askforce AMEC s advocacy was further acknowledged by the Federal Opposition which adopted several AMEC recommendations AMEC continues to advocate in support of further downstream processing NEW SOUTH W ALES P olicy Platform well received AMEC released a P olicy Platform prior to the March 2019 S tate election The platform has ten k ey recommendations including implementation of a Mineral R esources S trategy review of the governance and compliance framework strengthen the accountability and transparency of tenure and activity processing clarify land accesses guidance and Mineral Allocation area regulation AMEC is briefng P arliament and senior Government on the platform as part of our ongoing advocacy Mineral Allocation Areas Following strong advocacy from AMEC the Government has agreed to convene a working group to develop a transparent process for new tenure applications within the Mineral Allocation Areas This follows the gazettal of these Mineral Allocation Areas over multiple large resource areas of the S tate Without appropriate prior consultation or notice period it efectively sterilises k ey prospective areas of the S tate for industry investment with immediate efect R educed native title application timeframes Following AMEC representations to the Division of R esources and Geoscience there was a signifcant improvement in prioritising nonclaimant native title applications which saw a considerable reduction in processing timelines The issue is being closely monitored NOR THERN TERRIT OR Y R oyalty review The Budget announced the staggered introduction of a hybrid royalty model Prior to the announcement AMEC met with the T reasurer her Chief of S taf and k ey staf to outline concerns AMEC was successful in reducing the maximum Ad V alorem rate by 0 5 from an original 3 and calling for a staggered introduction to support developing miners W e continue to work with the T reasurer and k ey Ministers to campaign for broader simpler policy solutions L and Access AMEC is resolving pastoral land access issues in the T erritory in discussions with Government Using AMEC s e xperience in AMEC R eport 2018