Productivity Commission report on approvals processes for major projects

The past few years have seen constant change in the legislation governing the approval of resources projects.

The Productivity Commission has recently released a report entitled "Research Report into Major Project Development Assessment Processes" (Report), identifying improvements that can be made to the approval process for major projects.

The Report provides resource companies with independent and objective recommendations which they can use in submissions to government on proposed regulatory amendments.

The relevant recommendations include:

• Introducing statutory maximum timeframes for assessment agencies and decision makers to make decisions or recommendations (Recommendation 7.3).