1Short title
This Act may be cited as the McArthur River Project Agreement
Ratification Act 1992.
Bills and explanatory statements from legislation.nt.gov.au; second reading speeches from the NT Parliamentary Record (Territory Stories). Links open the official source in a new tab.
Bill homepage (legislation.nt.gov.au)This Act may be cited as the McArthur River Project Agreement
Ratification Act 1992.
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the
Administrator by notice in the Gazette.
In this Act:
Agreement means the agreement between the Territory and the Company which is set out in the Schedule and includes the
Agreement as varied from time to time in accordance with its provisions.
Company has the same meaning as in the Agreement.
McArthur River Project has the same meaning as in the
Agreement.
For the purposes of this Act and the Agreement, the words used in the Mining Act 1980 as in force or purporting to be in force immediately before the commencement of this section, with the necessary changes, are incorporated in and, subject to section 4A(3) and (4) and clause 4(2) and (6) of the Agreement, shall be read and applied as provisions of this Act.
A reference in the Agreement or this Act to the Mining
Act 1980 includes a reference to the words incorporated in this Act by subsection (1).
(1) For the purposes of clause 2(1) of the Agreement, the Agreement is ratified.
The implementation of the Agreement is authorised.
(3) Subject to section 4A, the provisions of the Agreement shall operate and take effect according to their terms notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act or law in force in the Territory.
(4) Where a provision of the Agreement provides for the modification of an Act or law in force in the Territory, the Act or law shall, for the purposes of the Agreement, operate and take effect as provided for in the Agreement as if the Act or law had been so modified.
(5) Subject to section 4A, an Act passed after the commencement of this Act shall not amend, modify or repeal a provision of the Agreement or affect the operation of a provision of the Agreement unless the Act expressly provides accordingly.
(6) The Territory, its Ministers, instrumentalities and authorities and any local government authority are authorised, empowered and required to do all things necessary or expedient for the carrying out or giving full effect to the Agreement.
(7) Subject to this Act and the Agreement, the Company, its servants, agents and contractors shall observe and comply with all Acts and laws in force in the Territory applicable in any way to the McArthur River Project.
(1) Notwithstanding the granting or purported granting of the mineral leases and the exploration licence specified in Schedule 2, there is hereby granted to the Company in respect of each area of land that was, immediately before the commencement of this section –
(a) comprised in the respective mineral leases or purported mineral leases; or
(b) subject to the exploration licence or purported exploration licence,
specified in Schedule 2, a mineral lease or an exploration licence, as the case may be, under this Act.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in the Agreement or the Mining Act 1980:
(a) a mineral lease granted by subsection (1) is granted for a period of 50 years from the commencement of this section; and
(b) subject to paragraph (a), in respect of a mineral lease or exploration licence granted by subsection (1), time shall be calculated as if it were granted on 5 January 1993.
(3) Subject to subsection (2), a mineral lease or exploration licence validated by section 3 of the McArthur River Project Agreement Ratification Amendment Act 1993 or granted by subsection (1) of this section has the same force and effect, and is subject to the same terms and conditions, as applied or purported to apply to the mineral lease or exploration licence, as the case may be, in respect of the relevant area of land, granted or purported to have been granted before the commencement of this section under the Mining Act 1980 in pursuance of the Agreement and, subject to subsection (4), a reference in the Mining Act 1980 (other than sections 17, 19, 20, 22(1), 55(j), 57, 58, 59 and 163 of the Act) or the Agreement to:
a mineral lease (or, in general terms, to a mining tenement); or
(b) an exploration licence (including the renewal of an exploration licence),
includes a reference to a mineral lease or exploration licence granted by subsection (1) or so validated.
(4) For the avoidance of doubt and notwithstanding any other law in force in the Territory, a mineral lease or exploration licence is validly and effectively granted by subsection (1) notwithstanding that an application has not been made nor any action that would be required before an equivalent lease or licence could be granted under the Mining Act 1980 (including the giving of any notices and a hearing by and recommendation of the Warden) has not been taken.
Despite any law to the contrary, the Authorisation:
is valid and effective; and
(b) authorises mining activity of any kind (including the conversion of the Mine from an underground into an open-cut mine).
Despite any law to the contrary, the Mining Management Plan:
is valid and effective; and
(b) was validly approved by the Minister for Mines and Energy on 13 October 2006.
(3) This section operates retrospectively and prospectively as follows:
(a) subsection (1) operates on each of the constituent authorisations from the date on which it was purportedly made; and
subsection (2) operates from 13 October 2006.
In this section:
Authorisation means the constituent authorisations.
constituent authorisations means:
(a) the authorisation under section 36 of the Mining Management Act 2001 dated 21 January 2003 and numbered 0059-01; and
(b) the further authorisation under section 36 of the Mining Management Act 2001, varying that authorisation, dated 13 October 2006, and numbered 0059-02.
Mine means the mine that forms part of the McArthur River Project.
mining activity, see section 13A of the Environment Protection Act 2019.
Mining Management Plan means the mining management plan related to the Mine and purportedly approved by the Minister for Mines and Energy on 13 October 2006.
Despite section 4AB, if there is any inconsistency between section 4AB and Part 15 of the Environment Protection Act
2019, Part 15 of the Environment Protection Act 2019 prevails.
(1) To the extent that a relevant legislative or administrative act results in the acquisition of property on terms that would not (apart from this section) be just, the Territory is liable to pay compensation sufficient to remedy the injustice.
(1A) The compensation is to be determined by agreement between the person from whom the property was acquired and the Territory or, in default of agreement, by the Supreme Court.
(2) A person is not entitled to compensation under this section unless, within 3 years after the acquisition, the person lodges a claim with the Administrator setting out:
(a) the person's name and an address for service in the Territory; and
the nature of the property acquired; and
the amount of compensation claimed.
(3) If, at any time after a person has lodged a claim under this section, the Administrator serves on the person a notice in writing that the Administrator is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that no agreement, or no further agreement, can be reached in respect of the claim, an action by the person against the Territory under this section for compensation shall not be instituted later than 6 months after service of the notice.
(4) Where an action has been instituted under this section in the Supreme Court and, on application by the Territory for an order under this subsection, the Court is satisfied that the person claiming compensation is not diligently prosecuting the action, the Court may dismiss the action for want of prosecution.
(5) A notice by the Administrator for the purposes of this section may be served by post on the claimant at the claimant's address in the Territory for service set out in the claim lodged with the Administrator.
In this section:
acquisition of property includes:
(a) the extinguishment or diminution of an interest in or right in relation to land; and
(b) any effect on such an interest or right, being an effect of a kind referred to in section 174B or 174D of the Mining Act in relation to private land.
compensation may include:
(a) facilities or services agreed on between the claimant and the Territory provided or to be provided to the claimant or as the claimant directs; and
property in substitution for property acquired.
relevant legislative or administrative act means:
a grant effected by section 4A; or
(b) a validation effected by section 3 of the McArthur River Project Agreement Ratification Amendment Act 1993; or
the enactment of section 4AB; or
anything done under this Act.
Notwithstanding any Act or law in force in the Territory to the contrary, a decree of specific performance may be granted and enforced against the Territory in respect of its obligations under the Agreement in the same circumstances and on the same conditions as such a decree could be granted and enforced against a subject of the
Crown.
For the purpose of calculating or recalculating an amount of royalty under clause 22(4) of the Agreement, subject to subsection (2), an amount or value that affects the calculation or recalculation is to be taken to be the amount or value exclusive of the amount of
GST (if any) payable in relation to a supply to which that amount or value relates.
Where an amount or value that affects the calculation or recalculation referred to in subsection (1) is directly attributable to an acquisition that relates to a supply that is input taxed, the amount or value is to be taken to be the amount or value inclusive of the amount of GST (if any) payable in relation to the acquisition to which that amount or value relates.
For the purposes of section 4(5), the Agreement is to be taken to be amended to the extent necessary to give effect to subsections (1) and (2).
In subsections (1) and (2), acquisition, GST,
input taxed and supply have the same respective meanings as in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services
Tax) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth.
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