The fifth annual Queensland Exploration Scorecard, released by the Queensland Exploration Council, has revealed mixed results for the resources exploration sector.

Shadow Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said he was concerned that confidence in the resources exploration sector had declined steeply under the Palaszczuk Labor Government.

“The scorecard very clearly shows that industry uncertainty about Labor’s resources policies has increased significantly under the Palaszczuk Government and was heading back to levels similar to the bad old days under the Bligh Government,” Mr Cripps said.

“In previous scorecards the former LNP Government dramatically reduced the levels of policy uncertainty expressed by explorers in Queensland, almost halving it in two years.

“Only the LNP has the track record in unleashing Queensland’s potential in this vital sector for our economy.

“After nine months in office, this measure is again heading in the wrong direction – Labor is certainly holding back Queensland’s resources sector.”

Mr Cripps said the highlights of the scorecard reflected the inroads the LNP has made to reform the management of resource tenures, in particular, the processing of exploration permit applications.

“There was a massive improvement in the timeframes for the processing of exploration permits by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines under the LNP between 2012 and 2015 – something which I am very proud of,” he said.

“Not only did we manage to clear a huge backlog of applications for resource tenures, including exploration, we significantly improved the customer service standards from DNRM to the resource sector, which is reflected in this report card.

“Thanks to the reforms of the LNP, industry attitudes towards tenure administration and the exploration permit process continue to be positive.

“In a worrying sign that this government is not up to the job, policy uncertainty was nominated as the number one concern for drilling companies on the front line of the exploration sector.”

Mr Cripps said confidence in the exploration sector was important in terms of encouraging investment which leads to the next generation of job creating projects in the resources industry.

The 5^th Annual Queensland Exploration Scorecard can be found online at: https://www.qrc.org.au/_dbase_upl/QEC%20Exploration%20Scorecard%202015_FINAL.pdf