This draft report was released on 31 May 2013. Written submissions are invited by Monday 15 July 2013.

The final report will be prepared after submissions have been received and public hearings held. The final report will be forwarded to the Government by end September 2013.

See also

• More about the Mineral and Energy Resource Exploration inquiry

Download the draft report

• Mineral and Energy Resource Exploration - Draft report (PDF - 3245 Kb) (17)
• Mineral and Energy Resource Exploration - Draft report (Word/ZIP - 3940 Kb) (0)

Download the draft report by chapters

• Preliminaries (PDF - 784 Kb) (0)
  • Cover, Copyright, Opportunity for further comment, Terms of reference, Contents, and Abbreviations and explanations
• Overview - including key points (PDF - 829 Kb) (0)
• Draft recommendations (PDF - 136 Kb) (0)
• Chapter 1 About the inquiry (PDF - 639 Kb) (0)
  • 1.1 Background to the inquiry
  • 1.2 What the Commission has been asked to do
  • 1.3 Scope of the inquiry
  • 1.4 Conduct of the inquiry
  • 1.5 Structure of the report
• Chapter 2 The nature of resource exploration and the role of government (PDF - 463 Kb) (0)
  • 2.1 Role and structure of resource exploration
  • 2.2 How the resource explorers operate
  • 2.3 Performance of resource explorers
  • 2.4 Government involvement in the exploration sector
• Chapter 3 Exploration licensing and approvals (PDF - 453 Kb) (0)
  • 3.1 The regulatory framework
  • 3.2 Issues with the allocation of licences
  • 3.3 Issues with regulatory practices
  • 3.4 Concerns with regulator performance
• Chapter 4 Land access issues (PDF - 314 Kb) (0)
  • 4.1 Land access regimes
  • 4.2 National parks and conservation reserves
  • 4.3 Native title and Aboriginal freehold land
  • 4.4 Managing conflict between land uses
  • 4.5 Social licence to operate
• Chapter 5 Heritage protection (PDF - 540 Kb) (0)
  • 5.1 The broad regulatory framework
  • 5.2 Indigenous heritage requirements and processes
  • 5.3 What are the key Indigenous heritage issues?
• Chapter 6 Environmental management (PDF - 424 Kb) (0)
  • 6.1 Potential environmental impacts of exploration
  • 6.2 The regulatory frameworks for managing the environmental impacts of exploration
  • 6.3 Duplication of regulatory agency responsibilities
  • 6.4 Proportionate regulation
  • 6.5 Improving the administration of assessment and approval processes
• Chapter 7 Pre-competitive geoscience information (PDF - 362 Kb) (0)
  • 7.1 Government involvement in pre competitive information
  • 7.2 The quality of Australia's geological database
  • 7.3 Opportunities to improve pre competitive geoscience information
• Chapter 8 Workforce issues (PDF - 311 Kb) (0)
  • 8.1 Skills shortages
  • 8.2 Workplace health and safety
  • 8.3 Workplace relations
• Appendix A Conduct of the inquiry (PDF - 157 Kb) (0)
• References (PDF - 213 Kb) (0)