Western Australia is to enter into an agreement with the Federal Government to streamline the approvals of environmental projects.
Premier, Mark McGowan said the agreement would provide a single avenue for industry to achieve Commonwealth and State environmental assessments and approvals.
“I expect this will result in an average six-month reduction in decision-making timeframes,” Mr McGowan said.
“WA has about $100 billion worth of development proposals in the pipeline that will benefit from a bilateral approval agreement.”
He said the approach was supported by the interim review of the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, released last month by Professor Graeme Samuel.
“WA’s environmental impact assessment practices are highly acclaimed, which is why WA is ideally placed to work with the Commonwealth and lead the nation to deliver this once-in-a-generation reform,” Mr McGowan said.
“It is also important to note that the Commonwealth retains the ability to ‘call in’ projects when it deems it necessary.”
Mr McGowan said the WA Government remained focused on simplifying and reducing unnecessary regulatory obligations on industry, while maintaining strong environmental protection standards, to further aid the State’s economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for the Environment, Stephen Dawson said the agreement was a long-awaited step to kick-start the economy and streamline the environmental approvals process.
“The State’s pipeline of development proposals will benefit from the faster, clearer and more consistent environmental assessments and approvals that we can achieve with a bilateral approval agreement,” Mr Dawson said.