RED-TAPE Revolution

Roger Cook himself will take charge of accelerating key energy and defence projects as part of the biggest shake-up of industry development in 70 years, aiming to futureproof the State’s economy.

After two years of talking up the need for economic diversification, The West Australian can reveal the Premier will use a key speech on Monday to announce his plans to achieve it and warn that, without action, WA’s booming economy could stall.

“It’s often not one fell blow that kills an opportunity, it’s death by 1000 cuts,” Mr Cook is set to tell The West’s Leadership Matters breakfast.

“I can’t let WA be a laggard. I won’t allow WA to be the policy equivalent of a long-abandoned Blockbuster Video store in the suburbs, holding on for dear life to the old ways of doing things.

“Instead we need to lay the groundwork for the kind of jobs and prosperity we want for our future.”

The Premier will announce a “bold” overhaul of the State development framework, first used in 1952, to slash red tape for any project he declaresa priority.

“A more modern and agile framework is required,” he will say. “The State Development Bill will transform the way we develop industrial land and deliver transformational projects in WA.”

Mr Cook will this week introduce the legislation in Parliament, empowering him to declare State Development Areas and Priority Projects.

And he’s vowed to give the role of co-ordinator general “teeth” to enforce project timelines.

Chris Clark, previously deputy director-general of Infrastructure, Economy and the Environment department, was appointed Co-ordinator General in 2023, only a few days after Mr Cook was sworn-in as Premier.

Mr Clark will be put in charge of overseeing agencies to ensure priority projects aren’t stalled, reporting directly to the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He will be given unprecedented powers to issue timeframe notices, due regard notices and modification orders to ensure “end-to-end” project approval timeframes.

The first targets will include the Government’s 2030 deadline to end coal-fired power generation, green iron and critical minerals projects to help Asia decarbonise, and turning Henderson into the southern hemisphere’s largest ship-building hub and an anchor for AUKUS.

“Our economy was quite literally built off the back of State agreements. Billions of dollars invested, hundreds of thousands of jobs created,” Mr Cook will tell Monday’s breakfast event.

“But we’re now at a point where industry needs are changing. Projects are simultaneously becoming more complex and often smaller in scale, and more nimble to meet increasingly volatile market conditions. Square peg projects are trying to fit in ‘round hole’ processes.

“In response, Government must create a more stable and attractive investment environment for emerging industries.”

A similar overhaul in South Australia this year was also motivated by AUKUS but was branded “overreach” by the Greens, who warned quicker approvals would override environment and heritage protections.

The Cook Government insists its legislation will only apply the powers to “the most significant projects” and will preserve existing safeguards, including Aboriginal heritage and an independent Environmental Protection Authority.

The Premier argues the overhaul is necessary to keep up with a changing world, and will compare the Western world’s slow progress on projects with China, where he’s announced plans to visit in two weeks.

“In the time it took Californians to fail to complete their 500-mile high speed rail system, China built more than 23,000 miles of high-speed rail,” Mr Cook will say.

“Now I know WA is not China, but this example illustrates the decisiveness we are competing with across the globe.

“Delays kill projects. To be competitive, governments need to take an economic opportunity and run with it.”

Exactly six months after Labor’s second-biggest election win in WA history, the Premier’s promise to deliver on “jobs, health and housing” hasrecently been overshadowed by a deepening hospital crisis and criticism of its $217 millionBurswood amphitheatre and racetrack.

Parliament’s return on Tuesday looms as a major test for the Government as it tries to seize momentum with only seven sitting weeks left this year.
Mr Cook is keen to return the focus of parliamentary debate to the economy.

He’s already announced plans to establish a State Productivity Commission, merging Infrastructure WA and the Economic Regulation Authority to streamline approvals for job-creating projects.

Mr Cook will say WA is “at the edge of a new chapter” in 2025, as important as the gold rush, the discovery of iron ore in the Pilbara or the first LNG exports to Japan in the 1980s.

“Our State has an extremely impressive CV,” he says.

“But past performance is no guarantee of future success.”

I won’t allow WA to be the policy equivalent of a long-abandoned Blockbuster Video store in the suburbs.