The Federal Government may be considering a ‘deal’ with the Greens party to push its ‘Nature Positive’ laws through Parliament, which would wreak havoc on the State’s economy, says CCIWA Chief Economist Aaron Morey.
According to media reports, the Greens have dropped its demands for a climate trigger and will support the Government’s Federal Environmental Protection Agency in exchange for a crackdown on native forest logging.
Morey says whether there’s a climate trigger or not, the Bill would be a major blow to WA’s economy.
“Even without a climate trigger, this Bill would do great damage to the WA economy. It must not pass – full stop. If the Bill proceeds it will mean delays and cost blow-outs for every major project in Australia, and WA has the most to lose,” he says.
Morey says the changes would be felt across various industries and harm the country’s decarbonisation efforts.
“The Bill doesn’t just risk mining and the jobs that sector creates to help kids break out of intergenerational disadvantage,” he says.
“It also risks the development of new housing lots, critical for relieving pressure in the rental market. And it risks the rollout of new transmission infrastructure, vital for connecting renewables to the grid.
“In this way it will slow efforts to decarbonise the Australian economy.”
WA doesn’t need a duplicate of approvals
Morey says WA already has a world-leading approvals system for major projects.
“WA doesn’t need a duplicate layer of environmental approvals run from Canberra,” he says.
“All this new Federal agency will do is make major projects more expensive and harder to get off the ground.
“It will drive away investment at a time when our economy is fighting harder than ever to attract capital.
“Nature Positive will be jobs negative for WA.”
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