This opinion article by Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black was published in The West Australian on 12 March 2025.

Now the Prime Minister has flagged a likely Federal election in May, the Government has the chance to consider the delayed approval of the North West Shelf extension project before March 31.

It’s not often that the Business Council of Australia provides comment on individual proposed projects — our role is to speak on issues that genuinely shift the dial on Australia’s economic prosperity.

But Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project in WA deserves focus because of what the project’s delayed process says about our poor approach to considering new major investments, and the urgent need for change.

Six and a half years ago Scott Morrison was our freshly minted PM, Roger Federer won his last Australian Open title, the word “corona” was used primarily in pubs and bottlos, and Woodside submitted its North West Shelf extension project application.

It’s fair to say a lot has changed since late 2018, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the status of Woodside’s project as “pending”.

And after a six-and-a-half-year process for a decision, the approval to extend use of existing infrastructure past 2030 has been delayed further still.

Last year, the WA Government approved the extension of the project, but due to our system of double approvals, Woodside must now wait for the Federal Government to make its call by March 31, after pushing out the approval deadline in February.

This is a setback for WA, for Australia, and for our closest allies.

Ironically, it’s also a setback for the environment because it may force Australia to keep burning coal for longer. Indeed, the Government’s Future Gas Strategy has made it abundantly clear that gas is a key transitional energy source as we move towards net zero.

There are many good reasons to be concerned by the time taken to consider Woodside’s project.

First, the market operator is forecasting a significant gas shortfall from 2030 in WA, rising in 2034 to the equivalent average gas usage for about 5000 homes each day, and so this project is needed to, quite literally, help keep the lights on.

Second, Australia is a major global supplier of liquefied natural gas, and our reliability as an energy partner is a cornerstone of our international relationships, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s key to supporting reliability for our partners who are also transitioning their grids.

For instance, we currently support about 40 per cent of Japan’s gas demand — we cannot risk creating uncertainty in the minds of our friends and in so doing allow other energy producers to fill the void. If we wish to be an energy superpower in the future, we must be dependable today.

Third, all Australians benefit from this project, with about $40 billion paid to the Federal and WA Governments in taxes and royalties — cash that funds critical services.

However, the most concerning aspect of the time it’s taking to consider this approval is that it’s symptomatic of a seemingly growing belief from government that “business will always wait and be ready when we are”.

And, increasingly, that’s just not true. Businesses need confidence and certainty to invest in all type of projects, from renewables, to gas, to housing. In the absence of finding it here, they’re looking elsewhere.

Energy projects, in particular, require long-term planning. Shifting goalposts only undermine investor confidence in Australia as a stable destination for energy investment.

Indeed, the time taken to consider Woodside’s project has real consequences for Australia’s ability to compete for global capital, grow our economy and deliver secure jobs.

It hurts our international reputation when it comes to timely approvals and certainty of process.

And we are seeing this play out across the nation in countless projects, and anecdotally we know there are billions of dollars and thousands of jobs that haven’t found a home in Australia because of increasing investor wariness.

The critical point that the time taken to consider the request to extend the use of existing infrastructure at Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project underlines is that Australia urgently needs a full overhaul of our major project approval processes.

This is a matter on which business groups and environmental advocates agree. However, how we get there is extremely challenging.

Ultimately, we must find a way to deliver the recommendations of the Samuel review, which if implemented carefully can achieve process simplicity and business certainty on the one hand and better environmental protections on the other.

One of the outcomes businesses seek is accreditation for States to administer the Federal approvals regime set out in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This would mean a single desk determined whether a project should proceed, removing multiple layers of bureaucracy and process time frames.

That’s why implementing the Samuel review properly must be a priority for Government on the other side of the election.

Had this already been done, the WA Government’s approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project would likely mean this nationally important project would have the certainty required to make investment decisions into the future.