WA jobs and the economy winners under streamlined processes

“Since the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Deregulation Taskforce, CME and our members have provided the Morrison Government with practical and realistic solutions to reduce over-regulation and remove duplication across jurisdictions,” said CME Chief Executive, Mr Paul Everingham.

“We recently met with the Prime Minister and his Ministry and used the opportunity to share our members’ constructive suggestions. It’s very pleasing to see the Government have acted so swiftly, so that it’s easier for companies to start projects, expand projects, create jobs and continue to strengthen the economy.

”The Prime Minister’s announcement, which is expected to save resources projects in WA more than $23 million a year, include:

• The Government developing a digital platform to monitor and track environmental assessment and approvals under the EPBC Act.
• Partnering with the Western Australian Government to develop a single online portal for lodging applications for both Commonwealth and Western Australian government environmental approvals.  An end-to-end digital platform will enable proponents to submit and track environmental approval applications.
• Developing a biodiversity database, that can be rolled out nationally, to store and share information, which will also help speed up assessments.

Mr Everingham said the PM’s announcement was a great start to regulatory reform but we are keen for some additional changes.

“It’s pleasing to see our Federal and State governments working together to develop an online portal. What we’d also like to see is the introduction of a single and thorough environmental assessment and approvals process that reduces duplication and increases productivity,” Mr Everingham added.