A $14 million resourcing boost for Western Australia’s environmental approvals system is set to streamline approval times and fast-track major job-creating projects.
The Western Australian Government 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. This will provide faster decisions without impacting the high standards for protection of the state’s unique environment.
The funding injection comes in response to the Vogel-McFerran Review – commissioned in 2023 by the Western Australian Government – which made a series of recommendations for ensuring Western Australia’s environmental approvals system is fit for purpose.
Additional investment in the state’s environmental assessment agencies follows the recently legislated amendments to the Environmental Protection Act, which are now in place.
Those reforms allow other government regulators to process and issue parallel approvals while EPA assessments are underway. Additionally, the reforms provide the Environment Minister the power to supply the EPA with a statement of expectation, and expand membership of the EPA’s board.
The State Government has now partly or fully delivered on 22 of the Vogel-McFerran Review’s 34 agreed recommendations.
Western Australian Premier, Roger Cook, said, “We’re delivering on our clean energy plan, securing major job-creating projects to position Western Australia as a global renewable energy powerhouse.
“We’ve overhauled Western Australia’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.”
Western Australian Environment Minister, Reece Whitby, said the investment is fundamentally good for the environment and for business.
“Not only does it mean that Western Australia’s environmental assessment agencies are better resourced to provide high-quality environmental decisions, but it also means investors will receive greater certainty and quicker decisions.”
