Industry applauds Premier Roger Cook’s fast-track for green steel in Kwinana

A Kwinana pilot plant for green steel will likely be one of the first projects to be fast-tracked under sweeping changes to State development laws announced by Roger Cook.

The Premier told business leaders at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters breakfast in Perth that a new State Development Bill would give WA coordinator general Chris Clark “teeth” with powers to issue time frame notices and modification orders to ensure priority projects do not stall.

“We have to move faster and more assertively and we have to seize the opportunities that we have before us,” Mr Cook said on Monday.

“Certainly, we recognise that Western Trade Coast (in Kwinana) is one of our key strategic areas, so neo-smelt as part of that will be something that we will be particularly focused on.”

The Kwinana neo-smelt project is a joint venture between Bluescope Steel, BHP and Rio Tinto aiming to produce up to 40,000t of molten iron a year using natural gas to reduce emissions at first and hydrogen technology in the future.

Mr Cook said passing the legislation, which will be introduced into Parliament this week, was his first priority, acknowledging that it was likely to face opposition.

He insisted environmental and heritage standards would not be abandoned for the sake of fast-tracking industry development.

“This is not about lowering standards,” he said. “This is about improving processes and making sure that we have the opportunities that these big industrial projects represent to seize the economic opportunities of the future.”

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said the WA Liberals would support measures that help industry “get on with the job of creating jobs”, but was yet to see the legislation.

“Clearly industry have been frustrated with regulatory delays, land access and policy uncertainty for some time,” he said.

“The Premier has been State Development Minister for more than four years so he needs to bear some responsibility for this frustration.

“The Opposition will scrutinise the Bill and ask a number of questions around exactly how this new statutory framework will be applied, including how it intersects with existing planning, environmental and heritage processes.”

The Conservation Council of WA poured doubt on claims environmental checks would be preserved, and complained that it wasn’t consulted before the legislation was drafted.

“I’ve got a briefing this afternoon, but it’s a briefing, it’s not a consultation or a round-table,” CCWA executive director Matt Roberts said.

“We’ve been calling for a speedy approval process, but it needs to take proper account of the environment and we haven’t actually seen a commitment to that.”

The announcement was quickly embraced by industry leaders, including gas giant Woodside which is negotiating with Canberra over its proposed extension of the North-West Shelf gas project — after State approval took six years.

“Woodside welcomes the pragmatic and significant changes outlined by Premier Cook to clarify approval time frames for major projects and ensure the economic, social and environmental aspects are appropriately considered,” a Woodside spokesman said.

“The Premier has acknowledged that jurisdictions are competing for investment and has outlined a suite of measures to enable WA to be competitive and to maximise its natural advantages.”

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief executive Aaron Morey said it was a welcome announcement but the follow-through would be critical.

“By ensuring priority projects aren’t caught up in needless bureaucracy, WA has a real opportunity to capitalise on global trends that will allow our state to grow and diversify its economy,” he said.

“It is critical that in addition to the welcome announcement today, the Government continues its work to ensure all projects across the State receive timely approval decisions.’

Mr Cook said the fast-tracked process will be applied to ship-building, green steel and decarbonisation projects but “not necessarily” new gas projects.