Western Australia's new environmental laws will accelerate industrial development while preserving the state's conservation regulations, the Labor government says.
The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill was passed in the WA Parliament on Thursday night, overhauling the state's environmental approval legislation.
Premier Roger Cook said the environmental law reforms would slash green tape and reduce duplication while maintaining the highest environmental standards.
"These reforms fix longstanding issues in the approvals process to speed up timeframes, without taking away the EPA's independence or changing the way it assesses a project," he said in a statement on Friday.
Under the new laws, the state environment minister will provide the environmental watchdog with a statement of expectation, to help it to better understand the government's priorities.
Other government regulators will also be able to process and issue their own approvals while EPA assessments are underway.
The membership of the independent EPA board will be expanded to between five and nine, who will be required to have skills or experience in specific disciplines important to the authority's role.
The reforms also remove appeals against a decision made by the EPA not to assess a project, bringing WA into line with other Australian jurisdictions.
This will reduce unnecessary appeals while retaining reasonable rights of appeal across the system, the government said.
Environment Minister Reece Whitby said the reforms would not change how the EPA assessed environmental impact.
But advocates, including the Conservations Council and Greenpeace, said previously the amendments would gut the EPA's independence and further erode its ability to protect WA's nature and climate
Lock the Gate Alliance WA said the legislation weakened the EPA at a time when a strong and objective environmental watchdog was most needed.
"The burning of fossil fuels is supercharging the climate crisis," campaign coordinator Claire McKinnon said.
"Parts of WA are on track to become unliveable.
"The weakening of the EPA will damn WA communities to a hotter, dangerously unstable climate."
