The state government has been accused of abusing due process and colluding with one of the country’s biggest companies to rush through a controversial mine expansion in the Hunter Valley. It took the Department of Planning just 21 days to recommend that Rio Tinto’s latest application to expand the Warkworth coal mine near Bulga be approved. This was at the expense of “proper assessment of the impacts on local residents and the environment”, community groups say.
See http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/government-accused-of-colluding-with-rio-tinto-20131212-2zaht.html#ixzz2pivIwZka.