- $14 million for additional staffing at the Environmental Protection Authority and the Office of the Appeals Convenor
- Resourcing boost to slash approvals time and fast-track major job-creating projects
- Funding addresses key recommendation of the Vogel-McFerran Review
- 22 of 34 recommendations of the Vogel-McFerran Review now fully or partly actioned
The Cook Labor Government is continuing to strengthen and reform Western Australia’s environmental approvals system with a $14 million resourcing boost to speed up approvals and secure major projects.
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.
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;
- provide the Environment Minister with the power to supply the EPA with a Statement of Expectation; and
- 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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As stated by Premier Roger Cook:
“We’re delivering on our clean energy plan, securing major, job-creating projects to position WA as a global renewable energy powerhouse.
“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.”
As stated by Environment Minister Reece Whitby:
“This investment is fundamentally good for the environment and good for business.
“Not only does it mean 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.”
