A HIGH-POWERED delegation of senior state government bureaucrats will head to China early next month in the wake of significant Chinese frustration over the Western Australian approvals process.
The delegation, comprising the heads of all the state’s lead development and approval agencies, heads to China on December 2 on a nine-day trip rumoured to cost the WA taxpayer around $60,000.
The delegation is headed by: Department of State Development chief Anne Nolan; Environment and Conservation director general Keiran McNamara; Mines and Petroleum director general Richard Sellers; Planning Commission chairman Gary Prattley; and Environmental Protection Authority chairman Paul Vogel.
The delegation will visit the cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou (the capital of WA’s sister state Zheijiang Province) and Yingkou and Anshan in Liaoning Province.
A government spokesman said the trip would provide Chinese business and government bodies with a better understanding of the Western Australian approvals and regulation regime.
More specifically, it was timed to coincide with the introduction of new legislation affecting approvals and regulation in WA, most notably the integration of planning and environmental approvals, and the separation of the Department of Environment of Conservation from the EPA.
The spokesman said the trip would also help key department chiefs gain a better understanding of dealing with Chinese business and government.
Environmental approvals in particular have been a major source of frustration for Chinese companies planning iron ore projects in WA’s Mid West.
Beijing-controlled Sinosteel mounted an aggressive campaign against the EPA in June, when the authority recommended it be barred from mining an integral portion of the resource at Mungada Ridge.
Sinosteel argued that the ruling was flawed, and warned that environmental delays at Koolanooka even threatened to torpedo its proposed $1 billion Weld Range project that is vital to the viability of the Oakajee port.
Similarly, Anshan-based steel producer AnSteel was forced to wait almost two years to gain environmental approval for part of its development plans at the $1.8 billion Karara iron ore joint venture with Gindalbie Metals.
Environment Minister Donna Faragher belatedly approved both projects in September and July respectively.
