Local councils short on options as new laws vetoing controversial rates charge loom

Local councils in WA are facing an uphill battle in their plight to overturn a State Government veto that will stop them from slugging explorers and miners with rates charges on certain licences.

But with proposed amendments to the Local Government Act yet to be introduced in Parliament, WALGA told The West Australian that its regional council members still wanted the advocacy group to make another push for their case.

“At the most recent WALGA State Council meeting held in Norseman on 5 September, the State Council endorsed WALGA to continue to advocate for Local Governments to have the ability to rate miscellaneous licences under the Mining Act 1978,” WALGA president Karen Chappel said.

The State Government’s move in August to amend the Act in order to override a Supreme Court decision that miscellaneous licences could be charged for rates vexed local councils, but provided a win for explorers.

With the clock ticking down and options running out until legislative changes are made, Ms Chappel is calling for a review into “justification and fairness of all rating exemption categories” under the Local Government Act.

“WALGA will continue to oppose legislative amendments that seek to exempt occupied miscellaneous licence land from rating,” she said.

“Mining companies should contribute to local communities through rates, just as other property owners do and legislative changes should not override judicial decisions that promote equity and sustainability to Western Australian communities.”

The saga stems from a spat between the Shire of Mt Magnet and explorer Atlantic Vanadium in 2023, when the Mid-West council flagged it would start charging rates on six “miscellaneous licences” covering the Windimurra project.

After an appeal by the Shire against the State Administrative Tribunal — which ruled the Windimurra land couldn’t be levied — the dispute was put before the WA Supreme Court, with Justice Marcus Solomon overruling the decision and concluding the land was “rateable”.

The verdict was short-lived, and the State Government weeks later revealed it would introduce new laws to ensure the licences — which usually covers land with roads and infrastructure used in mining — were exempt from local government rates.

Murchison Shire President Rossco Foulkes-Taylor last week lamented the decision as causing “deep concern within the Local Government sector”.

“To deny Shires the ability to lawfully levy rates on Miscellaneous Licences — while the State itself collects rents on the same licences — is inconsistent and unfair,” Mr Foulkes-Taylor said.

“Any review of rating provisions under the Local Government Act must therefore be guided by principles of equity and fairness, not the influence of a single powerful sector.”