13 AMEC R eport 2018 Environment W ater Commitee The Environment and W ater Committee advises the AMEC Council and Ex ecutive on issues that may impact the Association s membership The Committee dealt with a wide variety of issues in 2018 that included S trategic issues During the year the Committee continued to have a strategic focus on removing duplication in the approvals process information and big data sharing access to hydrogeological reports performance reporting development of case studies to reinforce our policy positions passage of the environment related Mining L egislation Amendment Bill environmental ofsets reduced compliance costs and access to relevant guidance material L and access and approvals AMEC continues to drive a more efcient and efective land access and environmental approvals system in all A ustralian jurisdictions This included AMEC hosting a seminar on W orking through the Maze at which we had presentations from industry and R egulators W e also participated on several S tak eholder R eference Groups through the W A Department of W ater and Environmental R egulation D WER This included the Environmental Protection A uthority a review of the Environmental Ofsets Framework W ater reform and R egulatory Services reform A t AMECs suggestion we held a work shop with D WER on their environmental approvals processes at which a number of administrative related suggestions were made including the use of accredited environmental assessors The Minister for the Environment has indicated that the concept is under consideration but could be delayed A similar work shop is planned with the W A Department of Mines Industry R egulation and Safety DMIRS in 2019 to discuss environment related approvals The intent of both work shops is to identify issues bottleneck s and mak e some practical solutions S treamline W A The Government announced S treamline W A a new initiative to encourage more investment in the S tate by changing the way Government interacts with private and community sectors and improving regulation and regulatory practice AMEC attended an invitation only work shop in late 2018 at which all Director Generals from approvals agencies were in attendance AMEC again stressed the need to focus on L and Access and Approvals This was following by a letter to the Premier and senior relevant Ministers The Premier responded by confrming AMEC has already been a valuable contributor to the process It is e xpected that signifcant consultation will occur in 2019 and beyond