The Greens and Palmer United Party have banded together to halt frameworks designed to cut red and green tape in mining approvals.
“The one-stop-shop will slash red tape and increase jobs and investment, whilst maintaining environmental standards,” environment minister Greg Hunt wrote in a statement late last year.
The “one-stop-shop” policy proposes to enter approval bilateral agreements under the EPBC Act with all state and territory governments, thereby delegating final approval powers over projects to them.
However the future of this process is now uncertain following a deal between the Greens and the Palmer United Party.
“It is extremely disappointing that the Greens and the Palmer Untied Party (PUP) are reversing the inroads the Federal Coalition, and the previous Labour Government, have made to reducing red tape and streamlining the approvals processes,” Simon Bennison, Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO, said.
“The announcement of the deal struck between the Greens and the PUP to block the One-Stop-Shop is creating uncertainty and instability for business investment decisions.”
Bennison went on to voice his confusion of PUP’s decision, stating that the new framework for environmental approvals had bipartisan support.
“AMEC has been a strong advocate for streamlining the approvals process through the delegation of Federal assessment and approval powers under the EPBC Act to accredited States and Territories through the bi-lateral agreements process.
“The Coalition’s One-Stop-Shop must go ahead. It will improve the efficiency of the approvals process, removing the significant duplications and costs, whilst also maintaining high environmental standards.
“This is critical for Australia’s international competitiveness.”