Funding announced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Environment to fully accredit state and territory assessment and approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act through bilateral agreements will achieve a core aim of reforms to the EPBC Act - reducing approval times while retaining strong environmental protection.
If Australia is to stay in the lead of the global race for investment in critical minerals and bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore for energy, defence and global progress, we need to develop more mines, more quickly while safeguarding our precious environment.
Australia's slow and complex regulatory approvals - with minerals projects currently required to submit the same information to both federal and state or territory governments via two separate processes - create the risk of losing investment in exploration, mining and minerals processing projects to other jurisdictions including Canada, USA, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
The Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies listed regulatory duplication as the number one investment deterrent facing Australian mining companies in 2024, so this funding to fast-track bilateral agreements with states and territories will help create a more efficient process.
Given these agreements are underpinned by national environmental standards currently being finalised, it's crucial that the government engage more deeply with both industry and the states and territories to ensure these standards are practical, evidence-based and can be broadly applied across jurisdictions.
