WA Premier Geoff Gallop said Cabinet had agreed to boost funding to a number of State Government agencies to accelerate approvals processes.

"Tthe approvals process is one of the biggest areas of concern for the resources industry," Dr Gallop said.

"We have agreed to allocate an extra $25 million over the next four years to a number of key Government agencies to streamline approvals processes.

"The funding will be strictly quarantined to the approvals processes within Government agencies. It will be used to make sure our approvals system remains first-class in its thoroughness and quality of outcomes, and also become faster."

"This is not an exercise in relaxing our standards, but an exercise in ensuring our approvals process takes no longer than absolutely necessary. This is about locking in our environmental standards, and our economic future. We can do both." he said.

A special unit, known as the Office of Development Approvals Co-ordination, will be created to ensure projects do not become bogged down. The unit will be headed by a senior resource industry advocate, Brendan Hammond, with a direct line of reporting to the Premier.

In other changes:

• relevant directors general will be held directly accountable for approval outcomes;

• relevant agencies will be required to report on approvals process timelines in their annual budgets, and account for approvals-process expenditure;

• agencies will be required to meet firm deadlines for commenting on resource projects, or will be deemed to have no comment to make; and

• agencies will be able to hire-in special expertise when necessary to keep projects moving.

In addition, Cabinet has authorised the Department of Industry and Resources to investigate the cost of creating an across-Government information database to help prospective resource projects identify planning, environmental, heritage and other matters relevant to their projects.

APPEA, the peak body representing the Australian upstream oil and gas industry, endorsed the changes.

“The work undertaken on sorting out the project approvals by state development minister Alan Carpenter’s office is to be applauded,” said WA APPEA Director Don Sanders.

“While the proof of the pudding is in the eating, APPEA believes the minister has at last got the ingredients right!”

Yes, Don, but can he cook?

Meanwhile, the Gallop Government has also announced it will develop a State Infrastructure Strategy to identify and prioritise Western Australia's infrastructure needs for the next 20 years.

Gallop said yesterday the strategy would promote jobs and investment growth by providing greater certainty about the timing of ‘big ticket’ infrastructure developments.

“Public and private investment in infrastructure in our State over the next 20 years could be in the order of $650billion,” Gallop said.

“It is vital the State has a plan which identifies how we can deliver the infrastructure we need to lock in prosperity for future generations.”

The strategy, to be released for public comment as a Green Paper next April, will cover major developments in areas such as road, rail and ports, as well as health and education.

“We will work with the private sector and other tiers of government to identify where new infrastructure is needed and where existing infrastructure needs to be overhauled.”

The State Infrastructure Strategy will be co-ordinated by the Department of Treasury and Finance with extensive consultation with key stakeholders, including the private sector, other government departments and other levels of government, the premier said.

Gallop said it would also explicitly identify areas in which the Commonwealth should play a role in infrastructure planning and provision.

“Canberra must get serious about supporting our resources sector which delivers them massive royalty and tax windfalls year after year,” he said.

“They can no longer expect WA taxpayers alone to carry the burden for the significant infrastructure challenges that lie ahead.”

The public has been invited to make submissions by January 31, 2006 to be considered in the development of a Green Paper.

Treasurer Eric Ripper will appoint an external reference group to guide the development of the strategy and provide a broad range of views on infrastructure issues. It is envisaged that the reference group will comprise representatives from the private sector, interest groups and all levels of government.

Expressions of interest for the reference group are invited by Friday, November 11.