Australian PM says enviro approval timelines to be reduced

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to speed up the environmental approval process for projects, which he says are “overly complex, duplicative and taking too long”.

In a speech delivered at the yearly Business Council of Australia dinner, he announced that government would partner with Western Australia to develop a system that would allow project proponents to submit a single application through an online portal, track its progress and access a database of biodiversity studies relevant to their project.