The Western Australian Parliament has passed legislative amendments to exempt miscellaneous and small prospecting licences on Crown land from local government rates, delivering vital investment certainty to the state’s resources sector.
The Local Government Amendment (Rating of Certain Mining Licences) Bill 2025 effectively restores a long-standing legal understanding that threatened to unravel following a Supreme Court decision.
The loophole, opened by the case between the Shire of Mount Magnet and Atlantic Vanadium Pty Ltd., exposed mining companies to prospective double or triple rating on infrastructure land already covered by existing tenement rates.
Miscellaneous licences under 10 hectares are routinely utilised by resources firms to build critical operational infrastructure, including roads, rail, pipelines, aerodromes, and fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) accommodation hubs.
Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley emphasised that the state government acted swiftly to shield mining and exploration companies from compounding regional costs, noting their viability remains foundational to protecting local jobs.
“The changes will ensure the long-held understanding within the local government and resource sectors that miscellaneous licences located on Crown land are not rateable,” Minister Beazley said.
She added that the government would continue to collaborate with local councils to address broader financial sustainability concerns without undermining the global competitiveness of the state’s resources industry.
Industry advocates, including the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC), strongly welcomed the bipartisan support that secured the bill’s passage.
AMEC CEO Warren Pearce described the outcome as a win for common sense, revealing that the unchecked legal re-interpretation could have conservatively cost the sector over AU$50 million annually.
“Common sense has prevailed. With local governments having the ability to seek rates back five years, the resources sector could have faced an extraordinary $250 million additional rates bill,” Pearce said.
“That would have been an unacceptable impost on an industry that is already investing billions of dollars across regional Western Australia.
“This outcome sends the right message that WA remains a place where investment certainty matters and where common sense can prevail.”
