Latrobe Valley Regional Rehabilitation Strategy
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (09:52): In 2020 we released the Latrobe Valley Regional Rehabilitation Strategy, and now Minister D’Ambrosio has confirmed an amendment to that strategy. I was really glad to be part of that work, which was announced last Friday and which sets a number of parameters around the way in which mines need to be rehabilitated, making sure that as we transform those sites – some of the biggest open-cut mines in Australia – we are doing so to a standard that means that they are safe, stable and sustainable. This is work that involves partnership across all levels of government, within industry and of course within our communities, and it is really important to make sure that as we do this, we are providing certainty around, for example, access to surface water. Confirming that the entitlements will not be diminished for holders of water within the existing system as a result of mine rehabilitation is really important, and I look forward to plans being developed and submitted to ensure that operators and licence-holders of mine operation frameworks are held to the standards that necessarily and appropriately apply to them.