The WA Government will charge a A$430 fee for lodging an objection to new mining activity from 16 September. The fee will support partial cost recovery to fund a second mining warden and additional administrative staff.
WA Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael said: "A differential fee model on a partial cost-recovery basis strikes a balance between industry and community concerns and the efficient operation of the Wardens Court."
Concession card and pension card holders will incur a A$100 fee, while Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate and freehold landowners that overlap the application for a mining tenement will have no fee.
"[Roger] Cook’s Government will continue to support the important principle that any person can object to a mining tenure application in Western Australia… A single objection before the Wardens Court signed by multiple people carries the same weight as multiple objections lodged individually,” Michael added.
In 2023, the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety discussed a A$859 charge, and the Cook Government opted for a diverse charge model following stakeholder feedback. This decision was prompted by a rise in protests to mineral title applications, leading to the appointment of a second mining warden in Perth.
The government determined the fee model after a 12-week public consultation, during which more than 300 submissions were received.
However, environmental organisations have criticised the state government's move to charge hundreds of dollars to challenge permits for mining activities.
Jess Boyce, acting director of the WA Forest Alliance, said: “In 2022, the WA community used the mining warden’s court process to object to a mining exploration application by Rio Tinto covering more than 100,000 hectares of the Northern Jarrah Forests. More than 150 people objected to the application, and Rio Tinto withdrew its application. This was democracy in action.”
According to the environmental organisation Conservation Council of WA, the new levy imposed on West Australians is much higher than the fees of A$18–46 in South Australia and A$49.82 in Tasmania.
The Council said the fee levy comes as the WA government “has spoken publicly of lobbying the federal government regarding reforms to federal nature laws currently being negotiated in federal Parliament”.
Jess Beckerling, executive director of the Council, said: “Recently in WA, we have seen multiple cases of mining exploration applications being made over highly productive south-west farms with landholders not even notified by the proponent.
“This is the latest in a series of WA Government moves to make things easier for the resources sector at the expense of ordinary West Australians.”
