Resources industry groups have fronted a Senate committee to voice concerns over the federal government's proposed Nature Positive reforms.
Resources industry groups have fronted a Senate committee to voice concerns over the federal government's proposed Nature Positive reforms.
The groups include the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA, the Association of Mining & Exploration Companies, and the Australian Energy Producers.
Presenting before the committee today, the groups said they had concerns over Nature Positive bill which proposed to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The proposed reforms include tougher penalties for breaching environmental laws and establishing a national approvals body.
Last month, the senate referred some parts of the bill to the Environment Communications Legislation Committee.
CMEWA chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson said there were concerns about the overlap between state and federal approval processes under the Nature Positive reforms.
“Our members are talking as clearly as we can about the concerns that we have about the duplication of that process,” she said.
“The duplication process is deeply concerning as is the removal of decision-making capacity of the Australian people within the EPA that is being proposed.”
AMEC boss Warren Pearce echoed Ms Tomkinson’s comments on duplication during his submission to the committee.
Mr Pearce said the promise of a more effective approvals system has not been kept.
“There was the ability to remove cost and time by removing duplicating state and federal legislation,” he said.
“The point I’m making is it’s not what’s been promised which is a more efficient approvals system.”
Mr Pearce said AMEC members have experienced a 12 to 24-month delay in projects in the federal system, on top of a four to five year process in the states or territory processes.
“What we’re really chasing is to see timeframes significantly decrease,” he said.
“To be on average something between 13-16 years is kind of horrifying, particularly when the minerals are required to produce renewable technologies we need to decarbonise.”
CCIWA chief economist Aaron Morey said the chamber’s membership had worries on getting new projects up.
“To say our members are concerned with the direction of this agenda would be an understatement,” he said.
“WA’s economy, more than others, relies on major projects and we just cannot assume that today’s industry will continue to generate employment opportunities in the future.”
Mr Morey said the concerns were shared among mining, exploration, and the housing industries.
"Exploration companies are concerned about their ability to get critical minerals mine up on cobalt, nickel and lithium,” he said.
“That is a massive problem for our economy.
“We put forward constructive proposals to try and improve what is a flawed set of bills here today.”
This comes after CCIWA commissioned a survey of business owners' confidence in the Nature Positive Plan, finding just 22 per cent of respondents across Australia were confident in Canberra-managed approvals.
About 34 per cent of business owners were unsure, according to the survey.
