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BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY COMPANY'S STEEL WORKS INDENTURE (ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION) AMENDMENT BILL

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Industry and Trade) obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Broken Hill Proprietary Company's Steel Works Indenture Act 1958. Read a first time.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of the bill is to amend the Broken Hill Proprie­tary Company's Steel Works Indenture Act 1958 to ensure that an effective EPA environmental authorisation is granted for the Whyalla operations of OneSteel Limited for a period of 10 years. The bill stipulates the terms of an authorisation to be issued under the Environment Protection Act 1993 in relation to OneSteel's operations at its Whyalla Steelworks and associated transport infrastructure.

The bill aims to provide an acceptable level of environ­mental regulatory certainty for OneSteel to make a $325 million capital investment in Project Magnet while ensuring that high levels of regulatory scrutiny are maintained by the EPA over the operations and that impacts on the community and the environment are properly managed. It also puts the responsibility of identifying environmental risks and remediation on OneSteel with absolute oversight by the government. This investment in Project Magnet will extend the life of the steel-making operations near Whyalla from the current planning horizon of 2020 to beyond 2027.

Implementation of Project Magnet by OneSteel, coupled with ongoing environmental protection regulation, will ensure that there is a substantial improvement with regard to the red dust issue, one of the main environmental protection issues in the Whyalla area. Investment in Whyalla from Project Magnet is vital to ensure not only that environmental impacts are reduced by reducing emissions of red dust but also that the jobs and livelihoods of many thousands of people in the Whyalla region are safeguarded for the next two decades.

Implementation of Project Magnet will ensure that OneSteel, the biggest employer in the region and the second largest employer in South Australia, will be able to employ more people and will be able to continue operation further into the future. Current levels of steel production will be maintained while the direct export of iron ore will increase to around 4 million tonnes per annum (value in excess of $150 million) from the current rate, which is less than half a million tonnes per annum, for a period of at least 10 years.

As well as that, Project Magnet will also deliver increases in mineral royalty revenue of around $3.75 million per year for 10 years from 2006-07, a not insubstantial benefit to the broader community of this state. The EPA licence to be granted to OneSteel incorporates the vast majority of the EPA licence conditions under which the site has been operating since 2000, as well as those put in place in January this year. Other conditions have been added to make sure that the environmental improvements that are associated with the project proceed as planned, thus reducing environmental impacts such as red dust emissions. In summary, the approach outlined will:

×Lead to better environmental outcomes

×Protect the community

×Ensure that economic devel­opment is sus­tained in the region.

I commend the Bill to members. I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses incorporated in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal. Clause 2 includes provi­sion to prevent the auto­matic com­mence­ment of the measure after 2 years under section 7(5) of the Acts Interpreta­tion Act 1915.

Part 2—Amendment of Broken Hill Proprietary Company's Steel Works In­denture Act 1958

4—Substitution of section 1

The short title of the principal Act is changed to the Whyalla Steel Works Act 1958.

5—Repeal of section 7A

The subject matter of section 7A is now ad­dressed in clause 17 below.

6—Insertion of sections 14 to 19

14—Interpretation

Terms are defined for the purposes of the follow­ing provi­sions.

15—Company granted environ­mental auth­orisa­tion under En­vironment Protec­tion Act 1993

This clause provides for the docu­ment set out in Schedule 3 (and if it is varied under this clause, the docu­ment as so varied) to be taken to be an environ­mental authorisa­tion granted to the Company under Part 6 of the Environ­ment Protec­tion Act 1993.

The Minister is empowered to vary the envi­ron­mental authorisa­tion, including by adding a further form of authori­sation such as an exemp­tion or works approval if the need arises. Any variation of the auth­ori­sation may only be made after consul­tation be­tween the Minister and the Company and must be laid before both Houses of Parliament. The Envi­ronment Protec­tion Authority is pre­cluded from varying the authorisa­tion.

The authorisa­tion will expire on the 10th anniver­sary of the date of commence­ment of this clause.

Various provi­sions of the Environ­ment Pro­tection Act 1993 are not to apply to the auth­orisation:

section 43 (Term and renewal of environ­mental authori­sations)

section 45(1) to (4) (inclusive) (Power of Envi­ron­ment Protec­tion Authority to im­pose or vary condi­tions of authorisations)

section 49 (Transfer of authorisations)

section 55 (Sus­pension or can­cellation of auth­orisa­tions)

section 106(1)(a) and (c) (Appeal relating to term or conditions).

16—Revocation of oth­er environ­mental auth­orisations

The Minister is empowered to revoke an environ­mental auth­orisation that has been granted to the Company by the Environment Protection Auth­ority (action that might be taken in conjunction with vari­ation by the Minister of the clause 15 authorisa­tion).

17—Period of operation of envi­ronmental ex­emp­tions

An environ­mental exemption may be granted or renewed by the Environment Protec­tion Authority in rela­tion to relevant Company oper­ations or develop­ments, or proposed rel­evant Company oper­ations or developments, for such period as the Authori­ty thinks fit. This provision is currently con­tained in section 7A of the principal Act.

An environ­mental exemption that forms part of the clause 15 authorisation is also allowed to operate for such period as is speci­fied in the authori­sation.

Both provisions override the usual 2 year time limit for environ­mental exemptions fixed by regulation under the Environment Protection Act 1993.

18—Minister to per­form func­tions under Devel­opment Act 1993

The Minister having the adminis­tra­tion of the principal Act will replace the Environ­ment Pro­tection Authori­ty in the performance of the Environ­ment Pro­tec­tion Authority's func­tions under the Develop­ment Act 1993. This provision is limited in its application to a proposed develop­ment asso­ciated with the Company's Whyalla oper­ations.

19—Making of envi­ronment pro­tection poli­cies that affect Company operations or devel­op­ments

This clause applies when a draft environ­ment protection policy is being con­sidered for ap­proval under the Environment Protection Act 1993. If the draft policy would, if approved, affect relevant Company operations or develop­ments, the Min­ister must consult with the Company and take into ac­count clause 15 and the purpose and effect of the environ­mental authorisa­tion under that clause and not derogate from the auth­orisa­tion.

7—Insertion of Schedule 3

Schedule 3 sets out the initial environ­mental auth­orisa­tion referred to in clause 15.

Schedule 1—Transitional provi­sions

Under this provision the licence granted to the Company under Part 6 of the Environment Protection Act 1993 in relation to the Company's Whyalla operations will expire on the date of com­mencement of clauses 6 and 7.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS secured the adjournment of the debate.