The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) has acknowledged the release of the Federal Government’s response to the Samuels Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
In October 2020, Professor Graeme Samuel AC submitted his independent review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It concluded that the EPBC Act, Australia’s central piece of national environmental law, is outdated, ineffective, and requires fundamental reform.
In the Federal Government’s response to the review, included in the Nature Positive Plan: better for the environment, better for business report, it is identifying the priorities that will guide the government’s reform agenda. These reforms will be guided by three essential principles:
- Delivering better environmental protection and laws that are nature positive
- Speeding up decisions and making it easier for companies to do the right thing
- Restoring integrity and trust to systems and environmental laws.
Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek notes the government will make long overdue changes to Australia’s environmental laws.
“We will develop National Environmental Standards, to improve protections and guide decision-making. And we will establish an Environment Protection Agency, to enforce the law and restore confidence.
“Uniting all these changes will be a conceptual shift.
“When we reform our environmental laws, we will take them from being nature negative, where we oversee an overall decline in our environment, to nature positive, where we protect our land and leave it in a better state than we found it.”
CME said it will work with its member companies to review the response in full and understand the implications for the WA approvals landscape and project pipeline.
“We have $87 billion in medium and long-term projects in the WA pipeline – projects essential for the supply of energy, renewables, critical minerals and metals needed to deliver on Australia’s commitment to meeting net zero emissions by 2050,” CME CEO Rebecca Tomkinson said.
“Project approvals are an extremely significant factor in whether these projects can come online in the timeframes we need them to, to meet these commitments.
“With that in mind, we welcome the Federal Government’s stated intention to streamline approval processes and look forward to understanding how the reforms will deliver on this, noting the proposed introduction of a national Environmental Protection Authority and existing duplication between state and Commonwealth processes.
“Progression of bilateral approvals – a key recommendation from the Samuels Review that CME has publicly supported – will also be absolutely critical to keep project timeframes workable and deliver on Australia’s decarbonisation commitments.
“I know the WA government has previously stated its commitment to act on this as well.
“The mining and resources sector looks forward to working with environmental authorities in WA as they seek to gain the accreditation under National Environmental Standards that will facilitate one-touch approvals.
“Noting WA’s stringent environmental standards and robust regulatory approvals processes, CME would like to see accreditation for approval of bilateral agreements implemented as soon as possible.
”We look forward to further detail regarding how the changes outlined in this response this will complement, and not duplicate, existing State and Federal approval processes.”
