JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The coordination, transparency and accountability of exploration licence approval processes had to be improved to remove unnecessary burdens placed on resource explorers, the Productivity Commission said on Wednesday in its Mineral and Energy Resource Exploration Inquiry Report.

The commission was tasked with examining the nonfinancial barriers to mineral and energy resource exploration in Australia, with the inquiry having examined exploration approval systems and processes within and across jurisdictions, their effectiveness and efficiency, and the costs associated with the regulation of exploration activities.

The report also assessed the impact of nonfinancial barriers on the international competitiveness and economic performance of the sector.

“The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report released today confirms the need to ensure duplicative approval processes and regulations for oil and gas projects are minimised, and notes that there should be transparency in decision-making processes and that those decisions should be based on scientific evidence,” the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) commented.

The report also highlighted other ways in which unnecessary burdens on explorers could be removed including making land access decisions that took into account the benefits of exploration to the wider community, and that were appropriate to the level of risk posed by exploration as informed by sound evidence.

Regulatory processes could also be reformed by improving access to existing knowledge of Indigenous heritage and accrediting state and territory government processes which meet Australian government standards of indigenous heritage protection, the Productivity Commission said.

Appea further pointed out that the commission also restated the importance of the provision of precompetitive geoscientific information.

“Explorers highly regard the accessibility and provision of precompetitive data by Australia's geological survey organisations. However, the effectiveness of state and territory geological survey organisations is hampered because significant shares of their budgets are from short-term funding initiatives,” the Productivity Commission noted.

The report highlights important messages for governments at all levels, Appea said, adding that it would be carefully reviewing all of the commission’s recommendations with a view to ensuring that the petroleum industry could continue to make a valuable and enduring contribution to Australia’s economic prosperity.