State whips up new laws to stop snowballing rates | Australian Markets
A legal dispute between a regional shire and a native vanadium play over rates costs has escalated to the purpose the place the State Government has to draw up new laws to repair the mess, handing a victory to industry.
Fresh proposed tweaks to the Local Government Act that may be revealed right this moment burst what was changing into a ballooning battle between the Shire of Mt Magnet and Atlantic Vanadium, who’ve been slugging it out since 2023 over whether or not the Shire might charge levies on six “miscellaneous” licences.
The dispute was seemingly completed and dusted final month when WA Supreme Court Justice Marcus Solomon overruled a State Administrative Tribunal determination and located that the land was rateable.
That determination induced a ruckus amongst WA explorers and miners, with Association of Mining and Exploration Companies arguing such fee costs have been “completely unjustified”, and will price the sector $50 million a 12 months.
The battle took yet one more flip this week when Atlantic Vanadium determined it will take the Shire to the Court of Appeal and problem the choice, a transfer believed to have had financial backing from fellow explorers.
Now the State Government has jumped to the mining sector’s rescue, revealing it can introduce new laws in Parliament to guarantee miscellaneous licences — which often covers land with roads and infrastructure utilized in mining — are exempt from native authorities rates.
The Local Government and Acting Mines Minister’s workplace stated the land held underneath these licences had “long been understood not to be rateable under the Act”.
But the current Supreme Court determination deeming the land to be rateable solely a month in the past had now paved the best way for “millions of dollars in additional costs for mining and exploration companies throughout regional WA”.
“As a result, the State Government will move swiftly to amend the Act by clarifying that land held under these licences is exempt from local government rates,” a spokesperson stated.
Minister Hannah Beazley stated the amendments would uphold what had been the 1995 laws’s “original intent”.
“While no local governments are currently collecting rates on land held under a miscellaneous licence, a recent Supreme Court ruling has called this understanding into question,” she stated.
“We’ll continue to engage with the resources sector on how it contributes to local communities and work with local governments.”
AMEC chief government Warren Pearce — who had beforehand accused native governments of treating the mining industry like “cash cows” —backed within the transfer as “sensible” and can be welcomed by industry.
“We pay rates on mining, exploration and prospecting licences, and in regional local government areas we overwhelmingly make the largest rates contribution,” he stated.
Mr Pearce added that AMEC, and fellow mining foyer the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, have been nonetheless in favour of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Shire of Mt Magnet’s legal battle had obtained the backing of 13 different native governments.
This was proof to chief government officer Tralee Cable — a huge driver of the rates effort — that the council was removed from alone in its considerations.
Ms Cable informed The West Australian on Friday she was “looking forward to the Supreme Court decision being upheld to support the effective distribution of the cost of administering local governance across Australia.”
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