Guidelines for the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program have been labelled unfair and too rigid by Whitehaven Coal, after Gunnedah Shire missed out again on the latest round of government funding.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gunnedah submitted new data on truck movements to the state government after it was left off the list in June, however after being reassessed, its ranking increased from 21 to 11, and only 10 areas were selected.
That meant Gunnedah was still not prioritised for the next round in 2014-15, although council is continuing the fight.
“I don’t think it’s fair in terms of the criteria,” Whitehaven chief executive Paul Flynn said.
The company has been working with the NSW Minerals Council to resolve the issue, and Mr Flynn believes Gunnedah will eventually be successful in gaining a slice of the funds.
“They, like all councils have legitimate uses for those funds.
“I think they will be included going forward.”
Whitehaven chairman Mark Vaile said the guidelines for Royalties for Regions were “too rigid” and the effects on the community needed to be looked at.
Mr Flynn did state, however, that other money was flowing into the Gunnedah community, with 75 per cent of Whitehaven’s workforce residing locally.
There has also been a grey area with voluntary planning agreements (VPA) - an agreement entered into by council and a developer.
A $13 million VPA has been negotiated with Narrabri Shire Council for the Maules Creek mine, including $6 million for road and infrastructure upgrades and $5 million for the upgrade of the Narrabri Airport.
The only Whitehaven mine in the Gunnedah local government area is the proposed Vickery project which was recently given the green light.
Gunnedah council secured a $5.2 million dollar voluntary planning agreement from Whitehaven Coal for the mine, however it did take two years of negotiations.
“The government also recognises this [VPAs] is an area for improvement,” Mr Flynn said.
“The VPA process is unstructured and runs the risk of being a vehicle for which other agendas are being pushed.”
He added that it has been up to councils to navigate their way through the process.
“I think we navigated it with two councils [Narrabri and Gunnedah] in a very constructive way,” Mr Flynn said.
