Federal Election Issues 2001

Election Issues Identified by AGC

The Australian Geoscience Council has released the following draft issues list in the lead-up to this year's Federal election in Australia.

Taxation Incentives for mineral and petroleum exploration

Australia relies on the exports from the Resource Industries to maintain its standard of living. For this to continue we need to encourage mineral and petroleum exploration, particularly for the small to medium companies. One option would be for people who invested in exploration companies to receive tax deductions of up to 130% when their money was spent on genuine exploration programs in the ground. If this is unacceptable then other tax effective schemes for genuine investments must be implemented.

AGSO

AGSO needs to be rejuvenated as Australia's national geoscience institution.

	It should be instructed to develop national programs on groundwater and land degradation, in addition to those established in BRS, which are only focused on rural and regional Australia.
	It should have a Research Advisory Board comprising its key stakeholders to provide formal advice on its program activities.
	It should have increased funding so that it has the resources to cooperate fully with the State &Territory Governments on regional onshore programs.

Cost Recovery

Core information in 'Information' Government agencies such as AGSO, ABS and ABARE should be provided free of charge or at cost of transfer, as recommended in the Productivity Commission's 2001 Report on Cost Recovery. The high prices currently charged by some agencies for data are such that they impede the agencies in attaining their main goals.

Non-core activities of information agencies should be charged at marginal rate cost, at prices that are consistent with competitive neutrality principles and the data sets gathered under this activity should be provided free of charge after five years.

Backing Australia's Ability

Backing Australia's Ability is a good first step to increasing our investment in science research and innovation and should be supported. However, most of the new money is in years 4 & 5 of the program. The timetable should be revisited to increase the funding in years 1 & 2.

Salinity, groundwater and land degradation are vital issues for all Australians. There is a lack of tertiary courses and research capabilities and capacities to develop appropriate strategies to tackle these problems. A review of these lack of skills and expertise should be carried out as a matter of urgency by the Commonwealth.

Land Access

The AGC supports the principles governing the Native Title Act 1993. However, there are still problems and uncertainties in the implementation of the NTA, which have deterred investment in new exploration in Australia, and indeed, led to increased investment in other countries. The AGC recommends a review of the processes involved in achieving Indigenous Land Use Agreements, so that the process can be simplified.

I am hoping to send the main bullet points to the Democrats and the ALP at the end of next week, with the full text to come later.

David Denham
President
Australian Geoscience Council

28-Dec-2002