Climate advocates oppose "concerning" planning changes

Climate and environmental advocates have this week raised questions over the Victorian government’s plan to speed up the Environmental Effects Statements (EES) process, citing fears the changes would take the power away from the public and put local flora and fauna in harm’s way.

The government released its Economic Growth Statement earlier this week, outlining a 10-year plan to pave the way for more development on industrial land with less red tape and shorter wait times.

The announcement came less than a week after the Business Council of Australia ranked Victoria as the state with the worst business settings citing “cumbersome regulations and taxes”.

Outlined actions included a new process to streamline the release of new greenfield land, the creation of a new Investment Co-ordinator General role, and reducing the number of business regulators by half.

Earlier this week, Environment Victoria (EV) chief executive officer Jono La Nauze said it was “concerning” that EV and other environmental groups were not consulted about the changes, expressing fears the changes would shift power away from the public.

“Shortening the timeframes for community consultation is not how we improve the EES process,” he said.

“Consultation makes for better decisions and should not be treated as an inconvenience to big business.

“The scales are already tipped in favour of big developers who have all the time they want to prepare their applications, and then at the end of the process, communities are left scrambling during short consultation windows that are set to get even shorter.”

Green Wedge Coalition co-ordinator Rosemary West told the Eastern Melburnian the announcement that had caused their group the most concern was capping the timeline for environmental effects statements to 18 months.

She said the change could also lead to detrimental environmental impacts being allowed to occur, putting endangered flora or fauna at risk.

“Our concern is we think the environment needs more protection, and we're concerned that the way the government's framing this, it is likely to get less protection,” West told the Eastern Melburnian.

“We're particularly concerned at the setting of a time limit on environmental effects statements.

“We think the environmental effects statements are really important for protecting environmentally significant species of flora and fauna, and particularly the endangered ones.”

West said she believed the reforms could lead to the EES process not adequately protecting the environment.

“Our concern is that the environment seems to be coming last,” she said.

“So we think, if anything, the environmental effects statements should be reviewed so that it becomes more protective of the environment.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said the changes would aim to create a dual approach of supporting businesses while ensuring the future of the environment.

“We’re making sure our processes are more efficient and giving business greater certainty, while maintaining our strong protections for the environment and managing project impacts,” she said.

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