WA’s government has announced a major revamp of the state’s mine approval system in an attempt to attract more investment in the state.
WA Mines and Petroleum Minister, Bill Marmion, described the legislation as the first step in a major revamp of WA’s approvals systems to enhance the State’s reputation as a world-class investment destination.
“The resources sector is a major contributor to our economy, and the flow-on benefits it provides to all West Australians is front and centre of the State Government’s reform agenda,” Mr Marmion said.
“We are introducing reforms that make it clearer, easier, and cheaper to do business in WA, whilst maintaining strict environmental standards.
“Let me be clear, this does not mean development at any cost. However, I do want to see a transparent approvals process that encourages further investment, and therefore more jobs, for West Australians.”
This Bill is the first tranche of legislative reform to implement the recommendations of the Reforming Environmental Regulation (RER) program. Additional reforms to strengthen the compliance framework and underpin a risk-based assessment system are planned for 2014.
“Risk-based-regulation enables government to set strict environmental standards and clear expectations of industry and allows companies to manage and mitigate any risks to achieving these standards,” the Minister said.
“This frees up our regulators from designing prescriptive conditions for each project they assess, and can instead direct their time to monitoring and enforcing compliance.
“The result will be more inspectors on the ground and a better understanding of what is actually happening in our environment.”
The current amendment Bill will facilitate environmental data release and is another step towards finalising the Mining Rehabilitation Fund’s regulatory framework, which will become compulsory from July 1, 2014.
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