Hunter missing out on mining royalties
BY MICHELLE HARRIS
22 Feb, 2012 04:00 AM
UPPER Hunter towns are missing out on their fair share of government funding for works and services while the booming mining industry on their doorsteps generates hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties, a new report shows.
An economic assessment of mining-affected communities, released by the NSW government yesterday, confirms concerns the region’s leaders have voiced for years about a significant imbalance between spending on Singleton and Muswellbrook and the money they generate for government.
The two local government areas received $5396 per capita in capital works and recurrent funding in 2010-11, putting them behind the NSW average of $6058.
Together, Singleton and Muswellbrook generated $20,468 per capita in mining royalties, payroll and other taxes and GST in the last financial year.
Royalties alone from the two areas tallied $709 million, or 57 per cent of all mining royalties in the state.
Other local government areas in the state trailed at least $15,000 per capita behind in funds generated.
Muswellbrook mayor and Hunter Councils chairman Martin Rush said the report acknowledged the council’s long-held belief of an infrastructure imbalance.
The state’s view of the region had improved in recent years, manifesting in compliance officers being based in Singleton, enhanced air quality monitoring and other measures.
‘‘The watershed is this acceptance that the Hunter cannot be sacrificed for the rest of the state,’’ Cr Rush said.
‘‘It might be a resource rich region but it is not there to be exploited, it’s there to be supported both pre-mining and post-mining and during mining.’’
The analysis, part of the Coalition’s election commitment to establish a $160 million Resources for Regions program, grouped areas based on royalties generated then compared the spending they received. Most other mining-affected communities in NSW received more funding per head of population in 2010-11 than those unaffected by mining.
Newcastle, home to the world’s biggest coal export port, was on the non-mining list.
Deputy Premier and Regional Infrastructure and Services Minister Andrew Stoner said the report showed Muswellbrook and Singleton had been neglected under Labor. The Coalition would engage with local councils and Infrastructure NSW to identify key economic infrastructure projects in these regions.
Initial allocations from Resources for Regions would be made in the June state budget, but it was ‘‘too soon to be talking dollar terms’’.
The money for the program would come from the Coalition’s promised ‘‘Restart NSW’’ fund, which consists of any ‘‘windfall tax revenue’’ and funding from sources such as Premier Barry O’Farrell’s Waratah bonds.
The government has also said the proceeds from its planned sale of the electricity generators, including Macquarie Generation, would go into the same fund.
Cr Rush said Muswellbrook and Singleton expected to share about $112 million from Resources for Regions. He said it was important the money was spent on regional projects, and that Hunter Councils, the Hunter Infrastructure Fund board and other major stakeholders should be engaged.
Singleton mayor Sue Moore said she could show Mr Stoner a busy intersection for which her council had to borrow $2 million to upgrade because state funds were lacking.
‘‘They said it was a local traffic [issue] and wouldn’t come to the table,’’ she said.
Labor primary industries spokesman Steve Whan said the former government deserved some blame for the towns’ spending shortfall.
‘‘But focusing on what’s happening now, the [Coalition’s] Resources for Regions program is still in the never-never and based on very vague funding sources.’’
- with Fran Thompson
