The Federal Parliamentary committee recommended a number of big changes to encourage the mining and oil & gas sectors but the lease issue has been called counter productive by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association executive director Barry Jones.

Jones said the recommendations on the retention lease proposal were not acceptable as companies would not be prepared to invest if they believed they could lose the right to exploit a resource after conducting an exploration program.

The inquiry said holders of retention leases under the Petroleum Act 1967 applying for a reissue of those leases show cause why the leases should not be made contestable after the expiry of the first five years of tenure.

Overall the report made 28 recommendations, mainly aimed at the minerals sector, to improve exploration investment, many of which have been made in the three other government investment inquiry's made in the last two and a half years.

"From an industry perspective, all the reports and inquiries have established that there is no single cure to turn-around the downturn in exploration expenditure. Rather, as highlighted in the Mineral Exploration Action Agenda, the exploration industry needs a package of measures to address an array of issues," said CME chief executive Tim Shanahan.

"If the current downturn is not addressed, Australia's resources inventory will decline in the medium to long term."