Thanks, Mr. Chair. When ITI went out the first time to talk about the Mineral Resources Act, the idea of royalties was part of the scope of those original consultations. They said that they were going to conduct a review of the royalty regime. That was what was promised. We didn't get it. I think I understand why: because it is very complicated. That is what they promised, and they didn't delivery. It is part of the post-devolution promise of "We are going to devolve and then evolve."
Now that our government has taken over something as significant as mineral resources and how we manage those, I think we owe it to our citizens to look at the revenues that accrue to this government as a result of mineral extraction. That is what any reasonable jurisdiction would do. The federal government didn't really do a very good job of this. That is not going to change under this government, at least during the 18th Assembly.
Of course, this doesn't take away from Indigenous governments' rights, and so on, because they already have rights in their own agreements that enable and entitle them to be involved in any kind of review, and that that could be a separate, bi-lateral discussions, negotiations, and so on. I am sure that our government will do its best to respect that. In no way will this take away from the inherent rights of Indigenous governments.
Certainly, when the department talked about this initially, I said, "This is going to be very complicated." It is not just royalties. It is about taxation. It is about the property taxes that mining companies pay, and the general taxation area, as well. It is also about taxes that the workers pay, and that is usually the biggest amount of revenue that accrues to our government.
I understand that this is complicated, but that shouldn't prevent it from happening. That is what the public deserves.
I talked about the mixed role of this department in promoting mining and regulating it at the same time. There is an inherent conflict there. I don't think that this kind of review is something that should be handled internally by the department. That is why this recommendation has suggested that there should be some independent experts who can be brought to bear on this and give advice with public input. The review really does need to be conducted by an independent panel, not an internal review conducted by the department.
The last part of this of this motion is about making sure that there are opportunities for public input. That should include, of course, the mining industry itself who obviously has a stake in this, NGOs, the public, businesses, the business community. They should all have an ability to participate in this kind of review.
I think this is a sound recommendation. I will support it. I look forward to the 19th Assembly dealing with this matter, ensuring that it is independent and there is expert advice brought to bear on this and that there are opportunities for public to be engaged. Thanks, Mr. Chair.