The Cook government this week introduced to Parliament the most significant reforms to Western Australia's environmental approval laws in a generation, helping to fast-track major job-creating projects while maintaining Western Australia's world-class environmental standards.

The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 delivers on commitments in December last year to overhaul the state's environmental approval laws in response to the Vogel-McFerran Review - which found approvals can be overly complex, time consuming and costly without benefiting the environment.

In the most significant reform under the new legislation, other government regulators will be allowed to issue their own approvals ahead of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) issuing an environmental impact assessment.

Under the current system, other government regulators cannot consider approvals for projects until the EPA has finished its assessment - often resulting in multi-year delays to projects.

Under the new parallel decision-making policy, proponents could obtain other approvals while their environmental impact is assessed, potentially saving years in the process.

Projects will still need EPA approval to begin, maintaining strong environmental protections, with penalties for carrying out works without approval to double - with fines of up to A$125 000 for an individual, and A$250 000 for a body corporate.

"This legislation strikes the right balance - slashing green tape, removing duplication and reducing delays - all while maintaining the highest environmental standards.

"For too long, major job-creating projects have been held up for years at a time by an inefficient, sluggish system that does not deliver any additional environmental outcomes.

"These sensible reforms retain all environmental protections, but streamline processes into a more efficient, responsive system,” commented Premier Roger Cook.

He stated that the legislation would ensure Western Australia continued to be the engine room of the nation.

Under the new laws, the Environment Minister will provide the EPA with a 'Statement of Expectation', helping it to better understand the government's priorities - including the green energy transition, housing delivery, job creation and protection of Western Australia's unique environment.

The membership of the independent EPA board will also be expanded to between five and nine members, who will be required to have skills or experience in specific disciplines important to the functions of the EPA.

The reforms also remove the right of appeal against a decision made by the EPA not to assess a project, with most projects in this case subject to other forms of rigorous environmental regulation. The EPA will instead publish a summary of reasons for its decision.

This will bring Western Australia into line with other Australian jurisdictions, reducing unnecessary appeals - while retaining reasonable rights of appeal across the system.