Billions of dollars in future investment and tens of thousands of jobs in Western Australia’s critical minerals and wider resources sector are at risk from the Albanese government’s plans to reshape environmental protection laws, industry warns.
And while the Albanese government has moved to spur investment in critical minerals with an additional, the chamber warned it would amount to little without reasonable environmental approval processes. A senior WA mining industry source speaking on the condition of anonymity said slated federal reforms were a massive overreach, and had the potential to “kill” any new projects in the state.
“Australia – and WA in particular – is in the box seat to capitalise on the green energy revolution, through our rich deposits of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and rare earths, which will power the transition to net-zero,” Mr Morey said.