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The Queensland Government released the Land Access Review
Panel's (Panel) report on the effectiveness of
the Land Access Framework (Framework) in
Parliament on Tuesday 19 June 2012. The Framework was implemented
by the Queensland Government in December 2010 to address issues
regarding access to private land for resource activities. The
Panel's report reviewed the Framework's effectiveness using
feedback it received from key stakeholders including peak bodies,
community groups, landholders, resource companies, lawyers and
other land access professionals.
The report found that although the Framework has changed the way
resource companies must negotiate access with landholders, it has
often not improved working relationships. The report includes 12
recommendations the Queensland Government and other stakeholders
can make to the Framework to further improve the way landholders
and resource companies interact.
The 12 recommendations, designed to improve the process of
negotiation between landholders and resource companies and to
resolve disputes efficiently, are as follows:
Ensure landholders are informed when a tenure is granted and
that they understand what a resource tenure process entails;
Improve the quality and availability of information about land
access by reviewing existing information and developing new
material and programs better targeted to landholders;
Provide a simpler and faster way to reach a definitive
resolution by establishing an independent panel to determine
disputes arising in negotiating a Conduct and Compensation
Agreement (CCA);
Provide parties with information about the impacts of
activities undertaken on the property so that landholders and
resource companies can develop a detailed work plan for the
future;
Appoint an independent organisation to clarify what are
'reasonable and necessary professional costs to negotiate a
CCA', initially by establishing a database of legal and other
professional fees;
Work with the resource and agricultural sectors to develop
standard CCA's by industry for coal, coal seam gas and
minerals;
Progress the development of a notification system that allows
prospective purchasers of a property to find out if a CCA has been
entered into for resources on that property;
Introduce a way for two willing parties to opt-out of the
requirement to sign a CCA;
Review the meaning of 'compensatable effects' to ensure
it clearly articulates what a landholder can be compensated
for;
Review technical and legislative issues that could be improved
to provide more certainty in the process;
Review the Framework and the recommendations given in the
report in 3 years;
Note that there were various issues raised by stakeholders that
were out-of-scope of the review.
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