The Northern Territory environment centre is referring potential conflicts of interest in connection with Glencore’s McArthur River Mine to the territory's independent commission against corruption. It comes after Natasha Fyles was forced to resign as chief minister over her shares in mining companies.
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00:00 In the NT Supreme Court, traditional owners have been trying to reverse a decision by
00:07 mining minister Nicole Manesson to allow Glencore's MacArthur River mine in the NT's Gulf of Carpentaria
00:14 to double in size, and the government's decision to reduce the mine's environmental security
00:21 bond.
00:27 They lost their court case in April. They've been appealing, but have now received advice
00:32 their legal argument won't work.
00:39 Because of changes the government made last month to its mining laws, the centre is now
00:45 questioning whether the changes to the laws were influenced by personal relationships
00:51 between government staff and staff from the international miner Glencore and intended
00:57 to stop the court action.
00:59 We believe that constitutes a perceived conflict of interest because those reforms have the
01:05 effect of removing accountability and requirements for mine closure planning and the calculation
01:12 of security bonds including for Glencore's MacArthur River mine.
01:18 The centre is now asking the ICAC to investigate.
01:22 We are going to refer this conduct and other matters relating to the way in which the security
01:29 bond for MacArthur River mine was slashed by the mines minister.
01:33 Asked by the ABC whether any conflicts did occur, the NT government responded that staff
01:38 with personal relationships didn't advise on the mining bill and processes to manage
01:44 conflicts were followed. It also rejected accusations the laws reduce environmental
01:49 protections.
01:51 Glencore responded by saying it contributed to the new mining laws via the NT government's
01:57 standard consultation process.
02:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]