How the national administration can find logic in saying that...

How the national administration can find logic in saying that national laws precede local laws and then deny the ECC approval, which is purely in their hands, is beyond me.

Reversing the ECC decision on appeal would have been a strong move to show their intent that national laws do precede local ones.

IMO, it is a slap in the face to the purpose of EIS, to deny the ECC citing a legal conflict, as opposed to distinct environmental or community concerns. The impact assessment has been fairly exhaustive and cost IRN holders a bucketload. Besides, there are still plenty of other approvals needed before there is a green light to mine.

However, on the flip side, I guess that impact assessment should be inclusive and a separate local govt veto based on environmental and community concerns in Australia would probably see any environmental approval suspended until the issue was resolved.

Article here:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=813711&publicationSubCategoryId=66