The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has called for a bipartisan approach to finalising the federal government’s proposed Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, warning that environmental approval reforms must strike the right balance between environmental safeguards and timely project development.

With the Senate set to continue debate on the Bill this week, MCA CEO Tania Constable said on Sunday that the legislation represented a “pivotal and critical moment” for Australia’s environmental policy settings and its future as a reliable supplier of globally important minerals.

Constable said the MCA had been working constructively with parties across the political spectrum to achieve amendments that would deliver “better outcomes for the environment, communities and the economy”. She argued that, after five years of discussion on reforming the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, bipartisan cooperation and “sensible compromise by both sides” was essential to finalising a workable and durable regulatory framework.

“A reform package that achieves the right balance – protecting the environment, building public confidence and enabling timely development of Australia’s resource projects – would back in Australia’s world-leading minerals sector and be a lasting win for Australia,” she said.

The mining industry has long argued that the existing EPBC approvals process is slow, duplicative and lacking in clarity, resulting in regulatory uncertainty that undermines investment and delays projects central to Australia’s decarbonisation and economic priorities.

To address these concerns, the MCA is advocating for the elimination of duplicate state and territory processes, the accreditation of state and territory governments to assess and approve projects, predictable timelines and embedding clear, outcomes-based environmental standards.

Constable said these changes would ensure the Bill was “workable, balanced and effective”, adding that improvements to the system would deliver a “significant net gain” across environmental outcomes, national productivity and the government’s energy-transition ambitions.