‘Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg should make repealing Section 487 of the EPBC Act a priority,’ said Daniel Wild, Research Fellow with the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs.
Recent comments by Minister Frydenberg, reported by the Courier Mail on 28 July, suggests the Government may not re-introduce legislation that would repeal Section 487 of the EPBC Act. Section 487 gives green groups virtually unlimited power to delay mining approvals in court.
‘The approvals process is already out of control. It has taken Adani more than six years at a cost of more than a billion dollars to get their central Queensland mine approved. And it still might not go ahead,’ said Mr Wild.
‘In some cases more 4000 licenses and permits and needed to set up a single mine.’
‘Frivolous legal challenges are precisely the type of red tape that is costing our economy more than $176 billion dollars each and every year.’
‘What’s worse is that project delays caused by legal challenge harms the world’s poorest, who are most in need of affordable and dependable energy.’
‘Not repealing Section 487 risks pushing more of the world’s most vulnerable people further into energy poverty.’
‘The Turnbull government has a golden opportunity to end the hijacking of our legal system by a coalition of radical green groups. They should take it,” said Mr Wild.
