The mining industry will be able to create more jobs more quickly thanks to a federal commitment to slash delays in environmental approvals, a peak group says.

“Faster approvals for mines and other major projects will support the investment and jobs Australia needs to recover more quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable said.

“Australia’s environmental approval processes can be improved and better integrated while preserving environmental standards and meeting community expectations.

“Specialised teams to coordinate Commonwealth, state and territory assessments and clearer processes will improve business certainty and address delays.”

She was commenting after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a raft measures at the CEDA State of the Nation conference to get the nation’s project pipeline flowing.

They included plans to cut delays in projects gaining approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

“According to departmental estimates, delays associated with these approvals alone cost industry over $300 million just in 2019. That’s not good enough,” Mr Morrison said.

“The Commonwealth has already taken steps to cut project approval times under the EPBC Act. 

“At the end of 2019, approval decisions took 90 days on average. Today they take 40. That is what we’ve achieved this year in 2020.

“Our goal is to cut these times by a further 25 percent by the end of this year – to 30 days for major projects.

“Ultimately, our objective is the streamlining of Commonwealth and state processes to a point of ‘single touch approvals’.”