"Nature Positive measures to streamline Australia's national environmental laws should not be allowed to bog down," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of national employer association Ai Group, said today.
"Australia desperately needs to make it easier to build the infrastructure, energy projects, industrial sites and mines that will enable a prosperous and clean economy. The existing national approvals process too often duplicates State approvals and fails to give weight to the full benefits of projects. The status quo is slowing down major projects just when we are racing against time to bolster our electricity supply before old coal generators retire and to stake our claim in growing markets for critical minerals.
"Policy makers should not let the opportunity to improve this situation slip away. Throwing money at the current approvals process, as the last Federal Budget did, will help the wheels turn a bit faster. But the long term benefits would be much larger if we also fix the underlying duplication and provide more ways to say 'yes' to the projects we need.
"The Samuel Review sensibly recommended a system where the Commonwealth delegates approvals to States that apply nationally agreed environmental standards. That approach remains a good idea and would avoid much of the double-handling that today's combination of State and Federal bureaucracies produces.
"There has been much debate over a so-called 'climate trigger', under which projects could require national approvals if they have an impact on global emissions. A new climate trigger is not appropriate. There are already more than enough triggers for approvals, and the Safeguard Mechanism puts an ever tighter limit on large facilities' direct emissions.
"On the other hand, once a project like a lithium mine, steel recycling plant or high voltage transmission line hits one of the existing approvals triggers, there is currently no way to consider their global emissions benefits alongside any local flora and fauna impacts. That anomaly prevents balanced decisions, slows or stops essential projects, and should be fixed.
"Any environmental regulator needs to obey the clear mandate in our current laws to consider economic and social values as well as environmental ones. Enhancing those laws to consider wider benefits, like the enablement of emissions reductions, would make it easier to say yes to the developments Australia needs.
"The test for a streamlining deal is whether it delivers faster decisions and more good projects, or not. Progress needs to be reviewed regularly. And if we aren't moving forward, we will need to respond and refine until we get better decisions faster.
"There is a lot at stake. If reform remains stuck, Australia will be less able to grow, less able to deliver clean energy to underpin industry, and less able to conserve our local and global environment. Everyone in this debate – in the Parliament and beyond – will have to show some flexibility to avoid a quagmire," Mr Willox said.
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