Streamlining Commonwealth Controls of Uranium Mining

The Commonwealth Government has just released its response to Deloitte's 2008 Review of Regulatory Efficiency in Uranium Mining, which suggests the possibility of major changes to the environmental regulation of uranium mining.

In summary, it raises the question of whether the Commonwealth may remove its specific environmental approval requirements for uranium mining.

The Deloitte review and the Government's response

The Deloitte Review was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Resources, Energy & Tourism, in conjunction with South Australian and the Northern Territory resources agencies, on behalf of the Uranium Industry Framework Regulation Working Group.

The Deloitte Review report is dated December 2008. The Commonwealth Government released the report, and the Government's response, this week. It follows the announcement last week of a radioactive waste facility in the Northern Territory.