Industry blames red tape, 'policy surprises' for Australia's fall in mining survey

Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Victoria fell in mineral investment attractiveness, according to the Fraser Institute’s ‘Annual Survey of Mining Companies for 2017’. Western Australia fell for the third year dropping from first in 2015 to third in 2016 to now fifth place on the investment attractiveness index. Over the last year, South Australia slipped back by one place to fourteenth, Queensland fell to twelfth, and the Northern Territory fell seven places to twenty-seventh. Victoria dropped 14 places to seventy-first in the world.