The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) acknowledges the WA Government’s ongoing focus on approvals reform following today’s announcement by Mines and Petroleum Minister, David Michael and Minister for Energy and Environment, Reece Whitby.
CME Chief Executive, Rebecca Tomkinson, said it was encouraging to see a key recommendation from the Vogel McFerran Review being acted on, with the Government indicating that a Statement of Expectations has been provided to the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).
“The Statement of Expectation provides a clear understanding of State priorities for the EPA to address,” Ms Tomkinson said.
“This is another important step and the State Government should be commended for the work it has already done implementing recommendations from the Vogel McFerran review.
“However, this is the beginning of a long road to advancing the competitiveness of WA’s resources on a global stage.
“These reforms are vital to streamline assessment processes while maintaining robust environmental protections and outcomes.
“CME has provided regular and comprehensive feedback to the government on frustrations experienced by our members during project assessment processes, so we’re pleased to see a focus on prioritisation, timeliness, reducing duplication and stakeholder engagement.
“Delays caused by complicated assessment processes involving multiple government departments continue to be raised as a significant deterrent to investment in WA.
“The changes enacted by the recent passing of the EP Act Amendment Bill – notably the introduction of parallel processing – are a sensible start.
“But these will not materially accelerate assessment timeframes unless internal departmental culture and processes are focused on lifting productivity.
“Cross-departmental relationships and engagement remain critical to successful implementation of parallel processing and other efficiency reforms, and CME is supportive of ongoing funding commitments and staffing initiatives to deal with backlogs.
“We are also keen to see, for example, a report card that includes time-based metrics identifying approvals timeframes and showing the impact of parallel processing.”
Media contacts:
Josh Zimmerman j.zimmerman@cmewa.com / 0404 947 719
Natasha Mutch n.mutch@cmewa.com / 0435 383 382
