- The Crisafulli Government has introduced legislation to deliver historic reforms to the archaic approvals process for mining leases and stamp out environmental lawfare.
- Reforms will remove assessment duplication across mining lease and environmental authority applications and stop automatic referral of objections to Land Court.
- The Crisafulli Government is delivering certainty and streamlining approvals after the former Labor Government tried to bury the mining industry in red and green tape.
The Crisafulli Government is reforming Queensland’s mining lease objections framework by removing red and green tape and helping deliver certainty through faster decisions for communities, landholders and mining companies.
The Mineral Resources Objections Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 was introduced to Parliament today to help reduce delays to projects while upholding Queensland’s high environmental standards.
The Bill introduces a number of reforms, including:
- Reducing environmental lawfare by clearly defined objection eligibility requirements, limiting mining lease objections exclusively to parties in directly affected communities including, landholders and local governments, or parties within 125km of the mining lease boundary to remove ideologically driven objections.
- Delivering more certainty for communities and reducing unnecessary court proceedings by replacing automatic referrals to the Land Court with a Ministerial referral process for objections that warrant hearing or an independent review.
- Streamlining approvals by removing duplication of environmental assessments, which are currently considered as part of both environmental authority and mining lease applications. Environmental impacts and objections will only be considered as part of the environmental authority application process.
Queensland’s world-class environmental standards will remain and continue to be assessed through the environmental authority application, which must be complete before a mining lease application can be made.
It’s just one of the ways the Crisafulli Government is attracting more investment to Queensland, to deliver more jobs and better services through a stronger economy.
Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last said the Crisafulli Government was delivering historic reform for Queensland’s mining industry.
“For years Queensland has been subject to environmental lawfare driven by activists based in Melbourne designed to shut down one of Queensland’s largest industries at the detriment of workers and regional communities that rely on mining,” Minister Last said.
“This reform will put an end to the madness that saw objections from activists automatically referred to the Land Court leaving projects in limbo for years with Queensland jobs hanging in the balance.
“It removes the former Labor Government’s goal to appease their green mates by duplicating assessment processes and tying up Queensland miners in red and green tape designed to suffocate the industry.
“This is about maintaining our leading environmental standards, while making it easier to do business in Queensland and delivering certainty for Queensland workers.
“Mining is the backbone of Queensland’s economy and when the industry succeeds we see the flow on benefits that drive regional jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity.”
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies Chief Executive Officer Warren Pearce welcomed the Queensland Government’s reforms as an important step towards a more efficient and workable approvals system for new resource projects.
“These changes should help reduce unnecessary delay and uncertainty while maintaining appropriate opportunities for genuine community concerns to be considered,” Mr Pearce said.
“Queensland has enormous resource potential, but projects need an approvals system that is efficient and focused on resolving genuine issues rather than creating unnecessary delay.
“These reforms are a positive step towards getting that balance right.
“Every unnecessary year added to an approval process has cost. It affects investment decisions and Queensland’s ability to turn its mineral endowment into new mines and economic opportunities.”
