The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) has welcomed the State Government’s intention to introduce the Mining Legislation Amendment Bill into parliament this week.
The Bill includes a number of proposed amendments aimed at streamlining the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) environmental regulation processes.
“The proposed amendments to mining legislation will assist in facilitating greater transparency, more efficient approvals and effective compliance arrangements.” CME Chief Executive, Reg Howard-Smith said.
The Bill is the first set of planned legislative reforms to implement recommendations developed through DMP’s Reforming Environmental Regulation (RER) program.
“The RER program is an important initiative to ensure DMP regulation achieves environmental objectives in an efficient and timely manner,” said Mr Howard-Smith.
“CME looks forward to ongoing collaboration with DMP to further streamline processes through implementation of a risk-based outcomes-focused approach to regulation.” Mr Howard-Smith said.
CME encourages DMP to undertake close consultation with industry throughout this process to ensure unintended impacts can be identified and avoided.
“A focus on reducing the cost of doing business and improving efficiency need to be priorities for the State Government in order to enable the continued growth of the resources sector in Western Australia,” said Mr Howard-Smith.
