The State Government in Western Australia has announced a $14 million resourcing boost to speed up environmental approvals and secure major projects for the region.
The funding will support the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Office of the Appeals Convenor (OAC) to employ additional staff to help address existing backlogs, providing faster decisions without impacting the high standard for protection of WA’s unique environment.
It comes in response to the Vogel-McFerran Review – commissioned last year by the Cook Labor Government – which made a series of recommendations for ensuring WA’s environmental approvals system is fit for purpose.
“We’re delivering on our clean energy plan, securing major, job-creating projects to position WA as a global renewable energy powerhouse,” said Premier Roger Cook.
“We’ve overhauled WA’s environmental approvals system to fast-track approvals while maintaining the highest environmental standards in the world.
“This resourcing boost will help our approvals agencies to clear the backlog of approvals and deliver faster outcomes for project proponents across the state.”
Additional investment in the state’s environmental assessment agencies follows the recently legislated amendments to the Environmental Protection Act, which are now in place.
These reforms:
- Allow other government regulators to process and issue parallel approvals while EPA assessments are underway
- Provide the Environment Minister with the power to supply the EPA with a statement of rxpectation
- Expand membership of the EPA’s board.
The Cook Government has now partly or in full delivered on 22 of the Vogel-McFerran Review’s 34 agreed recommendations.
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