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.

“Most importantly we have stepped in to restore these rights before the LNP’s laws have had any practical effect. No project has proceeded under the LNP’s laws.”

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.