The Queensland Government is moving to weaken community rights about mining decisions at the same time as Far North Queensland minerals are being drawn deeper into the United States military supply chain, the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) has warned.
On 15 September, the government introduced the Mineral Resources Objections Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026.
The Bill would restrict who can formally object to a proposed mining lease, limit objections using direct-interest and 125 km proximity tests, and end the automatic referral of objections to the independent Land Court.
Instead, the Resources Minister would decide which mining lease objections warrant a court hearing or independent review. Environmental impacts would also be removed from the mining lease assessment and considered only through the separate environmental authority process.
The Bill follows legislation passed by Parliament in August that created a new category of “State strategic projects”. Those laws allow the government to change how existing laws apply to selected projects and restrict some review and appeal rights.
“Less than two weeks after Premier David Crisafulli pitched Queensland’s critical minerals directly to US Vice President JD Vance, his government has introduced laws that narrow who can object to mines and give the government greater control over which objections receive an independent hearing,” CAFNEC Cape and Gulf Campaigner Lucy Graham said.
“Under the banner of ‘streamlining’, the government is shifting power away from communities and towards ministers and mining companies,” Ms Graham said.
The consequences of the proposed 125 km proximity test are clear at the Mt Carbine tungsten mine, north-west of Cairns.
“An objection radius of 125 kilometres ignores how far the impacts of mining can travel. Mt Carbine sits at the headwaters of the Manganese and Holmes Creek catchments, which flow into the Mitchell River just five kilometres downstream. The Mitchell is a huge interconnected catchment covering around 72,000 square kilometres. Mining impacts don’t stop at an arbitrary 125-kilometre line, so neither should Queenslanders’ right to have a say.”
“Water and mining impacts do not stop at an arbitrary line. People downstream deserve a say,” Ms Graham said.
Mt Carbine is also being drawn into the US military supply chain. Mine owner EQ Resources has joined a new US tungsten-processing partnership led by the Elmet Group and backed by the US Department of War.
The US Department of War says Elmet supports more than 100 military programs, including missile, military aircraft and submarine programs.
“The Crisafulli Government calls community advocacy ‘environmental lawfare’ while promoting FNQ minerals into supply chains that support actual warfare overseas. It is limiting community rights at home while opening doors to military interests abroad,” CAFNEC Director Bronwyn Opie said.
“Rivers, forests and threatened species cannot lodge an objection. Community voices are how nature enters the room. Those voices matter here, where mining impacts can travel through connected catchments and downstream communities, and overseas, where weapons harm people, land, water and ecosystems.”
“Far North Queenslanders have a right to ask what our environment, water and cultural values are being sacrificed for… and to have a genuine say in the answer.”
CAFNEC is calling on the Queensland Government to withdraw the proposed restrictions on mining objections, preserve independent Land Court scrutiny and protect the objection rights of Traditional Owners and communities with cultural, ecological and catchment connections to affected places.
“Queensland’s minerals are a public resource. Communities and Traditional Owners must share power over how they are extracted, what damage is accepted and whose interests they serve,” Ms Opie said.
