A new assessment bilateral agreement that removes duplication and provides a single process for environmental assessments in Victoria has been signed by the Commonwealth and Victorian governments.
Duplication of federal, state or territory and local planning processes adds complexity and cost to environmental approvals across the country.
The agreement reduces the regulatory burden on business, meets the requirements of both Victorian and the Commonwealth governments and maintains high environmental standards.
We can cut red tape and streamline approvals, and importantly, we can do it without compromising high environmental standards.
Under this agreement, the Commonwealth will retain the power to approve or refuse actions, and to attach conditions to approved actions.
The introduction of the One-Stop Shop reform will save Australian businesses around $420 million nationally every year.
“According to the Minerals Council of Australia, reducing approval timelines by one year has the potential to lift Australia’s national output by $160 billion and create an extra 69,000 jobs by 2025.
In Victoria alone, a saving in approval timelines of one year can boost the State’s economy by more than $35 billion and create more than 15,000 extra jobs by 2025, according to the MCA”.
In late 2013, the Commonwealth and Victoria signed a Memorandum of Understanding which set out the process and underlying principles for developing a One-Stop Shop in Victoria.
Having now completed the important step of streamlining assessments, the next step in the One-Stop Shop reform process is to accredit the Victorian environmental approval system under national environment law.
Further information can be found at http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/environment-protection/environment-assessments/bilateral-agreements/vic
(ENDS)