The WA government has announced that they are imposing a large fee of $430 for West Australians to lodge objections to mining proposals, which has previously been free.
Only two other states, South Australia and Tasmania, charge people like this, and their respective fees of $18-46 and $49.82 are significantly lower than the new levy imposed on West Australians.
It comes as the West Australian government has spoken publicly of lobbying the federal government regarding reforms to federal nature laws currently being negotiated in federal Parliament.
Last week, WA Premier Roger Cook told a business breakfast that the federal government was walking back nature laws after a meeting with federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek at which he was accompanied by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA (CCIWA) and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME).
The WA Premier told the business breakfast that with this lobbying effort the federal government “could feel WA coming en masse.”
On Monday WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby travelled to Canberra to continue the lobbying campaign on Minister Plibersek.
The West Australian government also recently introduced its own nature law reforms in WA Parliament that undermine the independence of the WA EPA by requiring the Minister to impose the government’s priorities on the EPA, and by introducing industry representatives on the EPA board.
Jess Beckerling, the Executive Director of the Conservation Council of WA, said today:
“Clearly this is designed to be a barrier to West Australians acting to protect farmland, forests and other places they value.
“It will significantly undermine the community’s right to engage in these decisions that can have profound impacts on their lives and livelihoods.
“Recently in WA we’ve seen multiple cases of mining exploration applications being made over highly productive south-west farms with landholders not even notified by the proponent. The law is already heavily skewed in favour of industry in WA, often leaving ordinary people reeling when mining applications cover their own land or places they deeply value.
“This is the latest in a series of WA Government moves to make things easier for the resources sector, at the expense of ordinary West Australians.
“Regrettably, the WA government is using its current federal political influence to lobby for weaker nature protections on behalf of industry.
“West Australians have a deep love for nature and a strong legacy of defending the places we love. The WA government is profoundly out of step with the community on nature protection.”
“This just goes to show that, for the WA government, it’s a case of “you get what you pay for” - a high price for most West Australians but a bargain for big business lobbyists.”
Jess Boyce, the Acting Director of the WA Forest Alliance, said:
“In 2022, the WA community used the mining warden’s court process to object to a mining exploration application by Rio Tinto covering over 100,000 hectares of the Northern Jarrah Forests. More than 150 people objected to the application, and Rio Tinto withdrew its application. This was democracy in action.”
“Objecting through the courts is an onerous and challenging process and people only do it when they feel they have to. It is abhorrent to be making it inaccessible to people with this excessive fee.
“Ordinary Western Australians are now left with few options to object to a new mine in their backyard.”
ENDS