The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) is pushing for legislation to allow multiple government departments to process project permit applications at the same time.
CME chief executive officer Rebecca Tomkinson said the move would be “common sense”.
“Our sector relies on regulatory frameworks that maintain our strong environmental protections, but obviously these must be delivered in a timely and efficient manner,” Tomkinson said.
“Our legislation has to be forward-looking and not lag behind other jurisdictions – or worse, drag us backwards.”
Tomkinson said the introduction of clear, time-based metrics and transparent reporting were critical at all stages of the assessment process for project approvals.
“Our commodities are superior quality but Australia is a relatively high-cost jurisdiction so we have to be easy to do business with, and we have to maintain our ESG standards,” she said. “Those two factors set us apart from other countries vying for the same market share.
“CME contributed to the consultation on the government’s ‘parallel processing’ solution and its inclusion in the reforms is a good outcome, with the changes focused on delivering much-needed processing efficiencies.”
CME is also pushing for the granular understanding of the end-to-end assessment process, encouraging governments to invest in “completing the puzzle”.
“We look forward to reviewing the amendments in the coming days,” she said.
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