ARTICLE · 04 JUNE 2018

Emerging issues for the Australian resources and energy sector in 2018: Part 2

McCullough Robertson

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The article is part of a series on proposed reforms and new developments in the Australian energy and resources industry.

AustraliaEnergy and Natural Resources

Louise Horrocks

Patrick Holland

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TENEMENTS, ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING

Proposed reforms to financial assurance and rehabilitation plans in Queensland

From 1 July 2018, major changes to the financial assurance (FA) regime and the requirement to carry out progressive rehabilitation will occur if the Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Bill 2018 (Qld) (FA Bill) is passed by the Queensland Government. The changes will affect every resource project in Queensland. The proposal was well promoted, having been flagged initially through a series of discussion papers released in May 2017 and building on several attempts to reform FA over the past five or so years.

Key elements of the proposal include:

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