Milton Caine

Standing with the CDP for a better Newcastle

The Back Story

Born in Perth in 1952, I grew up with my 2 brothers and 5 sisters on a farm in Gidgegannup, Western Australia…

Making the changes needed

An overview of my polices, thoughts and solutions on a number of key issues that are facing the electorate of Newcastle..

A Committed Team

As an Australian who cares deeply about the future of our nation it is my pleasure to join with a committed team of…

This Weeks Featured Article

Some thoughts on this week in politics…

Mining Rehabilitation Bonds

by Milton Caine | Nov 17, 2018 | Community assets, Environment, Featured Articles

Mining Rehabilitation Bonds

I have released a press statement regarding the need for Mining Rehabilitation Bonds after the Queensland Government adopted, in part, the Christian Democratic Party policy on Mining Rehabilitation Bonds. We are excited that a strong move forward is being made to protect our environment.

Press Release 16.11.2018 Mining Bonds

I was driving in Newcastle and I was extremely pleased to hear the announcement by the Queensland Government to move towards a policy position of the Christian Democratic Party on the need for mining bonds to guarantee that there is money left after the mine is done its useful life to adequately rehabilitate the site to an agreed standard. The details of their new policy position is at this link https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/management/env-policy-legislation/mining-rehabilitation-reforms.html; while the post of 11 June 2017 my post went further than their position and can be seen at https://www.miltoncaine.com/we-need-a-mining-bond-account-created/ .

Too often we have found that a mining operation will distance a mine site works from the parent company as the mine reaches towards the end of its useful life and either sell the depleted mine to another company or isolate it from the parent company and then declare that there is no money left to pay for the rehabilitation of the site. While in operation a rehabilitation account is to be created and yet the common practice is that the money in this account is only a journal entry without any actual funds in the account that is separate from the mine operations. This journal entry has for years satisfied the various government departments during the mine’s operations and when closure is emanate the truth comes out that the money is not there at all and so little, if any effective rehabilitation can be done as the company has no resources to carry out the work.

We developed this policy of separating the bond from the company to be held in the same way as a rental bond is held for every housing rental property in all states of Australia. The level of the rehabilitation must also be raised to a higher standard as we are degrading far too much of Australia. Mining companies are concerned that the bond will hold back too much of their capital and we say then invest in another business. We do not have to remove all of the minable material now we can leave some for the future generations. In fact responsible citizens that care for the future will always do what we do with a strong and long view of the future of our children and their children and so on.

We can and must do better and so therefore I, and the Christian Democratic Party, and very excited that at least in part that the Queensland Government chose to adopt, in part,

our policy on the need to establish mining rehabilitation bonds. Thank you all in the Queensland government for this good move towards the right direction.

The failure of mines to fix the mess after extracting all they want means we need to have new rules and while the Queensland Government have gone part of the way there will be a lot more to be done. In NSW the miners place money in an account which is nothing more than a journal entry and at the closure of the mine there is no real money there to do an effective rehabilitation of the site.

We can and must do a lot better.

Only the Christian Democratic Party cares about the children of our future and so

only we care enough to fix the problem for the long term!

« Older Entries



From My Desk

Australia and The United Nations Going Forward

by Milton Caine | Nov 3, 2018 | Defence, Family, Featured Articles, Federal Budget, Foreign Affairs, foreign ownership, From my desk, Immigration, Import/Export, law-and-order, Politics, Taxation

Australia and the United Nations In 1945 after two world wars the United Nations was created but today we must ask what is the relationship of Australia and the United Nations going forward into a very different world of 1945 when it all began??? The purpose was seen...

Retirement Income Insufficient from Superannuation plans

by Milton Caine | Oct 28, 2018 | Aged-care, Corruption, Family, Featured Articles, Federal Budget, Finance, From my desk, Pensions and retirement, Taxation

Retirement Income Insufficient from Superannuation Plans In 1909 the Commonwealth created a Commonwealth retirement plan by replacing the existing plans that each of the state governments had in place. This plan served Australian's well until the 1980's and if it was...

PFAS It’s Time for Ownership and Active Solutions

by Milton Caine | Jul 25, 2018 | Community assets, Defence, Environment, Featured Articles, From my desk, Health, law-and-order

It's Time for Ownership and Active Solutions Both each of the State Governments and the Federal Governments need to admit that it's time for ownership and active solutions for all the PFAS contamination in all the places that the toxic fire-fighting foam has been used...

Get In Touch

Listening to and working with the people of Newcastle is of upmost importance to me, as a result I am always keen to hear your thoughts and consider alternative ideas for Newcastle.

If you would like to get in touch and update our team with an issue or a suggestion for the region please fill in the contact form below.

(Understandably our workload is very high so response time may vary)