Resources for Regions and the

Economic Assessment of Mining Affected Communities

Nick Milham – NSW Trade & Investment - Strategic Policy & Economics – 26 August 2014

Resources for Regions

  Policy   Program   Eligibility

Resources for Regions - Policy

  Mining places unique pressures on social and economic infrastructure and services

  >>> higher costs on affected communities   R4R provides additional support   It is not about returning royalties   R4R part of Restart NSW - funded by asset sales

Resources for Regions - Program

  Infrastructure NSW program   2011 Election Commitment: >$160m over 4 years   Actually $217 million by 2014-15   24 projects so far: eg., road improvements,

hospital upgrade, airports, water security, saleyard   Almost $90m available in 2014-15   http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/assistance-and-

support/grants/regional-programs/resources-for-regions

Resources for Regions - Eligibility

  Communities that are ‘affected’ by mining   How to identify and how to prioritise?   NSW Government decision   Based on independently audited empirical

evidence

Economic Assessment

  Indicators of mining-affectedness   Progressive development since 2011

Indicators of Direct Mining Impacts 1 Royalties paid per capita Population adjusted indicator of mining

affectedness, used in both the 2011 and 2012 Assessments.

2 Total mining royalties paid New indicator of the overall level of mining activity in each LGA and the regional contribution of mining to NSW Government revenue.

Indicators of Indirect Mining Impacts 3 Mining-related heavy vehicle movements

per day Indicator of mining-related pressure on community-funded transport infrastructure in the LGA, used in the 2012 Assessment.

4 % of total regional employment in mining New indicator of pressure on social infrastructure and services from mining industry workers living in the region.

Economic Assessment

  Indicator selection   ‘Direct’ vs ‘indirect’ impacts of mining   Data rules (official, replicable, all LGAs)   Royalties per capita [why per capita?]   From exclusively ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’ to MCA

Economic Assessment - 2013

  plus Broken Hill

LGA Rank

Singleton 1

Muswellbrook 2

Mid-Western Regional 3

Cobar 4

Lithgow 5

Wollongong 6

Cessnock 7

Narrabri 8

Newcastle 9

Maitland 10

Thanks