‘Political’: Dutton slams gold mine decision

Tanya Plibersek’s decision to hold up the development of a $1bn gold mine was a “political” move aimed at winning over potential Greens voters, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says.

Ms Plibersek, the federal environment minister, has blocked the proposed site of the tailings dam for waste for the McPhillamys mine in central western NSW because it infringed on sacred Aboriginal land.

“This is an environment minister who is trying to please Greens voters and voters that would have been Labor voters but are now thinking about voting for the Greens political party at the next election,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.

“That’s why this decision has been made. People are having their lives impacted negatively, livelihoods and the whole community is being disrupted.”

Mr Dutton called out Anthony Albanese for not intervening in the decision.

“I think the Prime Minister’s happy with Tanya Plibersek’s decision,” Mr Dutton said.

“This is a scandal, I think, that is growing for the Albanese government because this is about making a decision that is going to have an effect at the next election outcome.”

Both Ms Plibersek and Mr Albanese’s seats are in inner-Sydney, prime targets of the Greens who hold similar seats in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Ms Plibersek recently rejected a tailings dam for a gold mine in Blayney on Indigenous heritage grounds.

On Thursday, she rejected the claims that her decision on the tailings dam would be the end of the Regis Resources development.

“Look, I’m not surprised that the company is trying to find the cheapest and easiest solution for their tailings dam,” she said.

“That’s what companies do. That’s their responsibility to their shareholders.

“My job as the federal environment minister is to make sure that projects can go again in a sensible way with little or no environmental impact, and in this case, that we don’t ignore the cultural heritage concerns of the local Indigenous people.

“The company has said that they need to go back to the drawing board, that this could take five or 10 years. That’s just nonsense because the bulk of the project has been approved.”

NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns has criticised the decision and called for it to be changed.

Mr Minns told budget estimates on Wednesday that he was “hopeful” Regis Resources, the company behind the McPhillamys mine near Blayney, could come up with an alternative dumping site but could not be certain.

“I’m disappointed by the decision from the commonwealth government,” he said.

“The application was made in 2019. It’s gone through the independent planning and assessment commission as well as every other government department in NSW.

“And to be knocked over at the 11th hour is disappointing in terms of mining gold and other critical minerals in NSW, which we desperately need because coalmining is under pressure, particularly when it comes to export markets.”