The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) has described the new State Development Bill introduced to the WA Parliament this afternoon by Premier Roger Cook as a “gross over-reach of government power”.
CCWA Executive Director Matt Roberts said the Bill would allow the Coordinator General, alongside the Premier, to fast-track approval of projects deemed to be of ‘state significance’.
“It’s alarming that a government attempting to shut down public scrutiny of key decisions impacting the WA environment through new ‘Post and Boast laws, now wants to empower an office with the ability to bypass current legislated practices,” Mr Roberts said.
“The government says this is all about speeding up approvals of renewable energy projects, but if our environment laws in WA aren’t up to the job, do the work to fix them, don’t simply override them without due process.
“While we welcome talk about diversifying our economy, there is a lack of public conversation about what the most appropriate industries of the future actually are for our state. It appears the State Development Bill’s ‘hero’ project is the NeoSmelt gas powered steel manufacturing project in Kwinana. Gas is neither low-carbon, nor green.
“This project would drive new gas demand and higher power bills for West Australians, increasing emissions at a time when our climate is in crisis. The Premier’s claims that an uptick in WA emissions is necessary to help decarbonise steel manufacturing – for the greater global good – is nonsensical.
“We are told the green steel project will be powered by hydrogen at some point, but with Woodside’s North West Shelf gas plant set to be approved until 2070, we don’t have any confidence that a real shift from gas to clean energy is at the top of this government’s agenda.
“The International Energy Agency has been unequivocal that there can be no new coal oil or gas if we are to have any chance of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Establishing a facility that is likely to be reliant on gas is dangerously irresponsible.”
Mr Roberts also questioned the lack of clarity around the state government’s inclusion of the AUKUS project under the State Development Bill.
“The State Development Bill references commitments to the environment, but we know our environment laws are failing, there are systemic failures in monitoring and compliance, and we continue to witness an ongoing decline in biodiversity across the state,” he said.
“Across our membership, we have been working to deliver a reform proposal for government to improve environmental outcomes; to see a tangible and meaningful move to strengthen protections for nature, not to slow process, but to demand industry deliver on environmental commitments, improve transparency, accountability and decision making.