The government yesterday repealed what proved to be a controversial amendment under the Minerals and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014.

The State Development and Public Works Organisation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 is designed to undo the previous Liberal National government’s contentious laws to silence community objections to major mining projects.

“We have listened to community concerns that their laws restricted landholder and community rights and our proposed changes seek to rectify this as soon as possible,” State Development Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said.

“This bill is the first step towards delivering on our election commitment to restore community objection rights removed by the LNP’s Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014.”

But QRC CEO Michael Roche said use of litigation to disrupt and delay projects was a major element of the anti-coal movement’s tactics, outlined in their strategy document, Stopping Australian Coal Export Boom.

“The changes reopen an avenue used by activists to frustrate mining projects by clogging the Land Court with futile legal action,” Roche said.

“A long-standing feature of coordinator-general Environmental Impact Statement processes for projects of state significance is that conditions handed down by the coordinator-general are final.

“Regardless, environmental organisations have continued to be able to frustrate the court processes even when they understand there will be no changes to environmental protections.

“This is a deliberate waste of the Land Court’s time.”

The bill includes amendments to the Land Court Act 2000 and repeals section 47D of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 Act.

This section prevented people objecting to the Land Court granting an environmental authority for a proposed mining activity if the coordinator-general had previously assessed the activity. The co-ordinator general assesses most major mine projects in Queensland.

If passed this week, most of the amendments will come into effect in late July.

The bill was introduced the day after Queensland’s first budget under Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government.

The Budget drew mixed reactions from mining groups.

While the Queensland Resources Council praised the budget for setting achievable royalty goals and being fiscally responsible, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) said it let the exploration sector down by stopping the Collaborative Drilling Initiative from the 2016-17 financial year.

“This will make Queensland the only Australian jurisdiction without a co-funded drilling program to encourage exploration,” AMEC CEO Simon Bennison said.

“Exploration is the key to making new discoveries that will become the mines of tomorrow to generate jobs and revenue streams for the benefit of the state.”

Despite this, AMEC said it was pleased with the $13.7 million set aside to modernise and improve the Department of Natural Resources and Mines’ online services.

The budget also allocated $2.2 million to address immediate native title trial costs and help accelerate native title claim resolution through the federal court.

The Abandoned Mines Land Program will also receive $6.2 million to manage public safety risks across the state.