Following a regulatory review of airspace within 100 nautical miles of Coondewanna in 2020, CME hosted an industry roundtable on May 26 consisting of representatives from our Pilbara iron ore majors, airline associates, Airservices Australia and Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Representatives met to discuss a way forward in addressing communication and surveillance infrastructure on the ground across private minesite airstrips.
At this stage, CASA intends to provide CME and members with additional information on the required technical specifications, capital costings (VHF and ADS-B) and analysis of available options such as racetrack patterns. There is currently no mechanism to introduce a slot management system in the Pilbara. Members with new airstrips planned in the Pilbara should reach out to L.Nguyen@cmewa.com to discuss further.
Infrastructure Western Australia and Infrastructure Australia
Infrastructure Western Australia will be launching its inaugural draft State Infrastructure Strategy on Wednesday July 21. The event will be hosted by the Property Council of Australia, with tickets available to attend in person or live stream. Release of the strategy will be followed by state-wide consultation, with finalisation and presentation to the State Government in early 2022. It is understood the strategy will focus on demand management and improving planning systems.
Infrastructure Australia (IA) will also be releasing its refreshed Assessment Framework in June. The new iteration will provide specific advice on resilience considerations in major infrastructure investment such as climate risks, transitioning to a low carbon economy and community resilience.
Energy update
CME submitted a response to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources’ consultation on the Future Fuels Strategy. In continuing policy and advocacy in this space, we have recommended it is not possible to treat energy sources separately but instead there should be treatment of a single energy system. Recent announcements on energy storage, fuel security, low carbon transitioning, hydrogen, critical energy metals and low emission transport technologies are interrelated and need to be considered as a whole.
In case you missed some of the recent announcements from member companies:
- Alcoa of Australia – Awarded a $11.3 million grant to test use of renewables in Mechanical Vapour Recompression processes for refining applications.
- INPEX Corporation – Entered into a US-Japan partnership to promote technological innovation in the energy sector through cooperative tie-ups with startups.
- Woodside Energy – Investigating supply of 50 megawatts of solar energy to the Woodside-operated Pluto LNG facility. If successful, it will involve delivery of more than 210,000 solar panels.
