The Aussie 
Projects planned for the Pilbara and Wheatbelt will enjoy a smoother development pathway under a $128.5 million Federal Budget reform package aimed at cutting green tape.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the law reform package aimed to provide greater certainty around environmental protection, streamline assessment and decision-making processes as well as strengthen compliance.
Central to the package is a $62.3m allocation to streamline approvals across 10 priority development regions nationally, including WA’s Pilbara and Wheatbelt.
A further $37.9m has been set aside to streamline assessment processes including $10m to progress single touch approvals and $27.9m to continue on-time assessment determinations which have risen to 96 per cent in the past three years.
Another $28.4m will support informed decision making including $12m to modernise the environmental offsets policy, $9.5m to improve compliance, $4.9m to strengthen the government’s knowledge base of protected plant and animal species and $2m to scope a new advisory committee to provide expert industry and technology advice to government.
“This is a package that will improve the quality and reliability of data used in assessments and decision making, ensure greater transparency and flexibility around environmental offsets and reduce duplication and delay in the assessment and approval process,” Ms Ley said.
“It represents another important step in delivering much needed environmental reform that reduces unnecessary delay and duplication, while strengthening safeguards.”
Resources Minister Keith Pitt said the 10 new regional plans would streamline development approvals, including those for crucial resources projects, by removing the need for a project-by-project approval under national environment law.
“This will boost investor confidence by identifying areas within a particular region where development activities may be undertaken while ensuring that strong environmental protections are maintained,” he said.
The funding announcement comes on top of a $47m expansion of the Digital Environmental Assessment Program flagged last month to ensure assessments are based on consistent data allowing them to be made more quickly and with greater transparency.
The reforms also aim to reduce duplication across Federal and State environmental approval processes.
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