CANBERRA\/SYDNEY, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Australia’s government on Thursday introduced an environmental protection bill into parliament that it said would better conserve nature while simplifying approvals for resource and construction projects.<\/p>\n
The legislation should deliver up to A$6.9 billion ($4.5 billion) a year in economic benefit by speeding up decisions on whether gas facilities, mines, renewable energy projects and homes can be built, the government said.<\/p>\n
Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n It said typical environmental approval times have more than doubled in the last two decades to over two years.<\/p>\n Australia is a major exporter of liquefied natural gas, metals and coal and is working with allies including the United States<\/a> to ramp up production of critical minerals and break China’s dominance of that industry.<\/p>\n The country is also mired in a housing shortage and trying to pivot rapidly to wind and solar power, while biodiversity is in decline.<\/p>\n Environment Minister Murray Watt said years of wrangling over new legislation should end.<\/p>\n “We’ve seen housing, renewables and other projects strangled in red tape at a time that we desperately need them delivered,” he said.<\/p>\n Watt said he aimed to pass the legislation through both houses of parliament by the end of the year.<\/p>\n That will require votes in the Senate from either the centre-right Coalition or the left-wing Greens. The Coalition wants the bill to be more business friendly and the Greens seek stricter environmental protection.<\/p>\n Watt, from the centre-left Labor party, said he was negotiating with both.<\/p>\n The Business Council of Australia welcomed the reform as an opportunity to fix a broken system but its CEO, Bran Black, said changes, including greater clarity around greenhouse gas reporting requirements, were needed to make sure it works for the economy and the environment.<\/p>\n Watt said the bill aimed to provide clear definitions of “unacceptable impacts” and higher penalties for breaches. It would also establish an independent National Environmental Protection Agency to enforce rules.<\/p>\n Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad called it a step in the right direction. Renewable energy project approval times have blown out in recent years.<\/p>\n “We cannot afford to wait another five years to secure this,” Trad said.<\/p>\n ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)<\/p>\n Reporting by Peter Hobson in Canberra and Helen Clark in Sydney; Additional reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n